Another clash between police and villagers
Another clash between police and villagers
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty people were hurt yesterday as hundreds of
residents of the Cibentang village in Bogor, 30 km south of
Jakarta, clashed with soldiers and police over the installation
of high-voltage electric cables.
This came after earlier clashes. The last clash was on Dec.
13. in which 11 villagers were hurt and one seriously injured. A
Nusantara Legal Aid Institute lawyer, who was giving the
villagers legal counsel, was also injured in the first clash.
A spokesman for the villagers, Nipan, 52, said at least 200
officers, including the Police Mobile Brigade from Bogor, and the
Bogor Military Command, were involved.
The clash occurred about 11 a.m. when officers cordoned off
the site to protect state electricity company PT PLN technicians
installing cables. The villagers do not want the cables.
Two villagers, Balok bin Kasan, 38, and Atin, 30, were
seriously hurt when officers beaten and trampled on them, Nipan
said.
They were taken to Bogor's Karya Bakti Hospital, he said.
"We regret the officers' involvement in the cable
installation," Nipan said.
Local police and military officials were unavailable for
comment.
"All the officers in charge were at site" was the response The
Jakarta Post got when it called the subdistrict military command
(Koramil) yesterday.
Calls to the local police office got no response.
PT PLN is appropriating 91,800 square meters of the villagers'
land to build pylons for 500 kilovolt overhead cables.
The project affects more than 100 families who are
dissatisfied with the compensation money they are getting for
their properties.
They said they would quit their properties when they got
reasonable compensation.
On Dec. 13, the presence of soldiers angered villagers
sparking the first clash.
A villager, Uwan, said after the first clash PT PLN had given
the villagers Rp 400 million (US$170212) compensation for their
fruit trees which were the communities' economic pillars.
Uwan, who owns 30 durian trees which earn him at least Rp 7
million ($2978) a year, said the families had not got
compensation for their land and houses which would be demolished
soon.
He said villagers demanded at least Rp 40,000 a square meter
of land, Rp 25 million for permanent houses, Rp 12.5 million for
semipermanent houses and Rp 6.25 million for shacks.
There are 22 permanent house, 41 semipermanent houses and 2
shacks in the village.
Sixty-five families own land and houses affected by the
project while 37 have only land which will be affected. (07)