Farmers protest against police
Wahyuana, Bekasi
Buni Bhakti villagers in Babelan district demanded on Thursday that Bekasi Police release two villagers, Bahrol Alam and Holili, who have been under arrest since Saturday for hijacked five tanker trucks belonging to state oil company Pertamina.
The villagers protested the procedure of the arrest, saying the police did not issue an arrest order. The arrest order was only received by the Buni Bakti village chief Hardi Suhardi on Monday.
Bekasi Police detectives chief Adj. Comr. Yudi AB Sinhale declined to comment. He only said the two were arrested for violating Article 335 of Criminal Code on disorderly conduct.
Bahrol and Holili have been active in protests against Pertamina's exploration in the area. They were arrested after a protest on Friday in which they hijacked five trucks at Kedungjaya village near the Pertamina's Tambun-A well and kept them in a compound of a house that has hosted dialogs between Pertamina and locals.
Residents said they kept the vehicles to make Pertamina officials guarantee that there would be no more accidents at Pertamina's 16 oil wells in the area.
A 16,000-liter tanker truck exploded on June 9 when loading oil at Tambun-A well. The explosion forced locals to take refuge for several days and 100 other trucks had to stop operation.
Locals were traumatized by the explosion, moreover heat and oil seepage have also affected their rice fields. Immense heat generated by gases at the well also forced local residents to leave the village for a month in March.
Residents say they have yet to receive compensation from Pertamina although the company had earlier promised to pay a total of Rp 2 billion (US$212,766) in compensation in late May.
Pertamina general manager for West Java operations Bambang Busono confirmed the incident.
"The two suspects were arrested because they led the people to hijack Pertamina's vehicles," he said by phone. "We have provided Rp 2.1 billion to compensate around 800 farmers in five villages for crop failure, namely Pantai Hurip, Muara Bhakti, Samodra Jaya, Hurip Jaya and Buni Bhakti. So far, only Buni Bhakti villagers have yet to receive the money."
Bambang also hoped the police would release the two soon.
Farmers have experienced crop failure since Pertamina started operations in the area last year. Environmentalists have reported finding unacceptable levels of heavy metals, such as chromium, zinc, cobalt and lead, in the rivers flowing through the area.
The Babelan oil field, located 25 kilometers north of Bekasi and 40 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, has estimated reserves of 424 million barrels of oil and 3.34 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The presence of the oil field stands out in contrast to the poverty-stricken villages that surround it, with villagers being entirely dependent on their rice harvests for survival.
"It doesn't feel safe anymore to live in Buni Bhakti because of the accidents that have occurred at Pertamina's operation site. There was the exploding truck, oil seepage and we had to take refuge because of the heat from the well," said villager Chairul Anwar.