Farmers attack, loot Lampung shrimp firm

Farmers attack, loot Lampung shrimp firm

JAKARTA (JP): Around 2,500 farmers ran riot on the vast shrimp
farm owned by PT Wahyuni Mandira in the district of Ogan Komering
Ilir in Lampung, burning, looting and destroying almost all
facilities on the 170,000-hectare site.

Antara reported on Thursday that the rioters went on the
rampage in the area, which lies 300 kilometers north of
Bandarlampung, on Saturday night after PT Wahyuni ignored their
request for an improvement in the terms of their business
relationship with the company.

PT Wahyuni, whose multi-million dollar shrimp farming venture
is billed as one of the largest and most modern in Southeast
Asia, is among the fixed assets handed over to the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) by the Gajah Tunggal Group in
lieu of its Rp 28.4 trillion debts.

The news agency said the angry farmers, who themselves raise
shrimps under technical and marketing cooperation with PT
Wahyuni, destroyed the company's offices, workers' dormitories
and other facilities in the vast complex.

The farmers were frustrated and angered by the slow response
to their demands for better terms and conditions in their
contracts with the company, the reports said.

"They burnt almost everything, looted the ponds and even stole
the workers' personal belongings. Our operation is now totally
paralyzed," Viria Bakti, a spokesman for the company, was quoted
as saying.

The workers were evacuated safely to a nearby shrimp farming
area also owned by the Gajah Tunggal Group. No casualties were
reported.

PT Wahyuni has developed more than 20,000 hectares of the
170,000 hectare site that it holds land use rights to in the
area. It employs 2,500 workers and provides a further 3,000
shrimp farmers with extension and marketing services. (vin)