Daily life goes on peacefully in Porsea despite continuing demos

Daily life goes on peacefully in Porsea despite continuing demos

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Porsea, North Sumatra

Despite the much-criticized, planned reopening of pulp mills in
Porsea, North Sumatra, daily life in the new regency of Toba-
Samosir goes on peacefully. A majority of locals are indifferent
to the issue as they concentrate on farming and fishing in rural
areas and in trade and services in urban areas.

Church ministers and student activists have marched along the
road leading to the pulp factory on an almost daily basis to
protest against what they say is the environmental destruction
caused by the mills.

Meanwhile, the management and staff of PT Toba Pulp Lestari
(TPL), which runs the pulp business, is making final preparations
to resume operations immediately, waiting for an official
announcement from the government to the public.

The two factory's were closed by the government in 1998
following strong opposition from numerous organizations citing
environmental degradation.

Most locals have become apathetic since the issue has
contributed nothing new to their daily lives and, instead,
entrusted the local administration to deal with it for the sake
of the common people.

B. Manik, a resident of Sirait Uruk village in Porsea
district, said the villagers had returned to their farmland after
learning they had been abused for an issue they knew little
about.

"Most residents in the village no longer join the anti-Indo
Rayon protest as they have gained nothing but suffering and found
themselves in conflict with other groups. Both sides actually
know nothing about the issue. Life has been returning to
peace ... residents no longer want to get involved in the issue.

"Most residents have returned to their farmland, instead of
joining the anti-Indo Rayon protest, to earn money because the
pulp issue has given us a new lesson that the polemic has brought
social friction to the Batak community in the region," he told
The Jakarta Post here over the weekend.

Many residents of Parapat, a tourist resort on the edge of
Lake Toba, and the nearby district of Lumban Julu concurred,
saying they had entrusted the government to determine the pulp
mills' fate.

A. Siahaan, a retired civil servant from Porsea, said the pulp
mill issue had been highly politicized both at home and overseas,
"but not for the sake of the people in the regency."

"Local people, students and religious leaders have been abused
by the political elite with financial support from local and
foreign businessmen who oppose the presence of the pulp mills in
the regency with environmental and social issues. What a pity the
uneducated locals have been misinformed and disinformed on the
pulp mills and its hazards to the environment," he alleged.

Siahaan, who claimed to be neutral on the pulp issue, said
most people had become apathetic because the government had given
a green light to the factory's planned reopening and "what
certain sides have long described as environmental disaster from
the pulp mills is actually an exaggeration."

He said that despite the green light, the people would
continue to remain cautious on environmental hazards that would
possibly be raised by the mills in its daily operations and they
would stage a militant resistance once the factory was allowed to
resume operations.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nua Wea,
representing the government, visited Porsea to give the local
administration permission for the mills to resume operations.

The government's move drew protests from some people in
Porsea, including some religious leaders and an alliance of
nongovernmental organizations.

Some 16 locals, including two Protestant church ministers, are
facing charges following the ransacking of the district head's
office in Porsea during an anti-Indo Rayon demonstration
involving hundreds of people in the small town last November.

"We are examining the suspects' dossiers to be brought to
court in the near future," a government prosecutor's office staff
member in Balige said.

About 150 villagers, including church ministers and student
activists, staged a peaceful demonstration near the plant site
over the weekend, demanding local authorities release their 16
detained colleagues and reject the presence of Toba Pulp Lestari,
now named PT Inti Indo Rayon Utama (IIU).

The demonstrators, mostly women, brandished banners, sang
local folk songs and distributed anti-TPL pamphlets.

Pastor Hyginus Silaen OFM Cap who led the peaceful
demonstration told the demonstrators that the government had no
alternative but to close the pulp mills permanently as it had
damaged the environment and brought suffering to locals.

"No audit. No laboratory. The pulp mills must be closed down,"
he said. "We will continue the demonstration until the factory
stops operations permanently."

He criticized security authorities's arrogance in handling the
recent demonstration that led to the arrest of 16 demonstrators,
saying local authorities should be held responsible for what he
labeled as human rights violation.

The district court turned down last week a lawsuit filed by an
alliance of nongovernmental organizations against local police
over they called the arbitrary arrest of the 16 suspects.

The local administration said it had decided to allow TPL to
resume operations to help accelerate the economic development of
the least-developed new regency and to lure more investors to
invest in the regency.

P. Simbolon, secretary of the regency administration, called
on nongovernmental organizations to stop their anti-Indo Rayon
campaign to gain financial support by abusing uneducated locals.

"Nevertheless, we respect the minority group's views. But, we
will go ahead with our decision to allow the pulp mills'
reopening to provide at least 1,500 job opportunities for locals
and contribute at least Rp 550 billion in annual tax and
retribution payments to the local administration," he said,
adding no investors would come to the regency should the pulp
mills, established in 1988, be closed down.

He said the government would audit the factory's performance
annually and it would be closed down permanently should it be
found to be damaging the environment beyond tolerable limits.

"Before the people take action, the government will firstly
close the pulp mills should it violate all requirements set for
the pulp mills' reopening," he said, adding the local
administration was still learning from the Kerinci and Tangerang
administrations on how to develop pulp mills in the two
regencies.

Wagimin Wongso, president of TPL, said that besides having a
strong commitment to repairing its bad image in the past, the
company was prepared to grant a certain percentage of the
company's shares to the local administration.

He said TPL, a majority of whose shares is owned by two groups
of investors in Hong Kong and Boston, would use advanced
technology to reduce environmental hazards to a minimum and
carry out local community development projects to win the support
of the local people.

"We're ready to stop operations permanently should we violate
environmental regulations," he said.