Bogor farmers demand their land back
JAKARTA (JP): At least 270 farmers staged a rally outside the National Land Agency (BPN) in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, to demand the return of lands taken from them by force and by stealth.
The farmers, who were grouped in the Indonesian Farmers Solidarity, came from Malasari and Cibedug in Bogor and Pontianak in West Kalimantan.
At 4:10 p.m., three BPN officials offered to meet a delegation of 23 farmers who had requested a meeting with State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Hasan Basri Durin. However, the officials were rebuffed, with the farmers insistent that only Hasan would suffice.
Muhammad Sukendar, who claimed to represent 150 farmers from Malasari, complained that PT Nirmala Agung had refused to return 350 hectares of land rented from farmers in the area after the lease expired in 1997.
"PT Nirmala's right to use the land ended on Dec. 31, 1997. But even though we have held 18 demonstrations at this building, we have yet to receive any response," Muhammad said.
"The land belongs to us. Right now, Malasari farmers are only earning Rp 2,000 a day. The company has offered us work for Rp 6,300 a day, but that's not what we want. We want our land back."
Around 100 farmers traveled from Cibedug to ask for the return of 300 hectares from the 750-hectare Tri-S Tapos cattle ranch.
Abdul Hakim, who was representing the Cibedug farmers, said that thousands of people in the area were suffering from food shortages but were prohibited from farming land on the ranch.
The ranch is currently managed by PT Rejo Sari Bumi, a company controlled by Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana.
"Today Soeharto is being interrogated at the Attorney General's Office, so we are staging this demonstration to push his family into giving us our land back," Abdul said.
Cibedug villagers farmed the disputed 300-hectare site from 1942 until 1972. The remaining 450 hectares belonged to farmers from adjacent villages.
Akhmadi from Pontianak, who was accompanied by 20 farmers from West Kalimantan, said that he represented 350 farmers in his home province who had been cheated by a large plantation company.
He said that in 1989, the farmers gave 1,000 hectares of land to PT Kalimantan Barat Sanggar Pusaka (PT KSP) to develop an oil palm plantation on the condition that they would each later receive 2 hectares of the developed land.
"We agreed that once the entire site had been planted, we would each receive two hectares, leaving PT KSP with 300 hectares," Akhmadi said.
"However, the company went behind our backs and acquired rights to the whole site in 1994. We want them to honor the original agreement," he added.
The farmers gathered at the Al-Azhar mosque on Jl. Kebayoran Baru before heading for the BPN building at 1:30 p.m. (ylt)