Farmers protest land takeover

BANDUNG, West Java: A group of farmers demonstrated outside the West Java High Court demanding an objective trial of their case against PT Cisadane Perdana, a developer that appropriated their land.

One of the farmers, Ihsan, said yesterday the dispute began with the issuance in 1994 of a land certificate which stated the 77.5 hectares of land in Sawangan district, Bogor regency, which was previously owned by 285 farmers, was no longer theirs.

Ihsan said it was ancestral land and had never been sold to anyone.

The farmers, thrown off their land last year, previously took their grievances to the House of Representatives and the National Commission on Human Rights, all to no avail. (17/31)