Firms in Riau chided for paying police, TNI
Firms in Riau chided for paying police, TNI
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
Several major companies in the natural-resource rich province of
Riau allegedly pay the local police and Indonesian Military (TN)
to ensure the safety of their operations, local figures said,
following the disclosure of a similar practice by an American
firm in Papua.
Among them, the local figures said, were U.S. oil and gas
company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, and pulp and paper company
PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper.
"... what is certain is that several large firms in Riau
always rely on the security forces in dealing with their problems
with the local communities," Tabrani Rab, former Free Riau
Movement activist and now a member of the Regional Advisory
Council, said over the weekend.
"Every time I accompany people whose land has been taken by
Caltex, I don't meet the company's management. Instead, I have to
face the Riau police's Mobile Brigade," he said. "Once in a while
I must deal with soldiers from the Wirabima military command in
Riau."
According to Tabrani, Caltex is paying the police and the
military between Rp 8 billion (about US$898,000) and Rp 9 billion
per year.
In 1998 and 1999, when Indonesia was in the midst of political
upheaval after President Soeharto's downfall, Caltex paid around
Rp 20 billion, Tabrani said.
Caltex spokesman Hanafi Kadir confirmed that it was paying the
police and the military. He refused to elaborate on the amounts
and denied that Caltex hired the security forces to confront
locals in land disputes.
The payments, Hanafi said, were to protect the company's oil
and gas operations.
Since 1998, Caltex has been complaining about deteriorating
security conditions in Riau. It has seen frequent road blockages
and disputes with subcontractors' workers, while coping with the
rampant theft of production equipment around its facilities.
Earlier, Hanafi said Caltex had incurred production losses
worth more than $1 million from the ongoing blockade of one of
its gas fields by villagers since last February.
The locals are demanding that Caltex repair the public roads
it has damaged by letting trucks with heavy equipment pass over
them.
Pulp and paper company Riau Andalan, a unit of the APRIL
Group, faced a similar problem with public roads but was paying
the police to turn a blind eye, charged Nasarudin Sagala, deputy
chairman of the Riau office of the National Commission on Human
Rights.
The company, he said, donated two Toyota Kijang vehicles to
the police last year.
According to Tabrani, Riau Andalan had donated Rp 1 billion
worth of vehicles and computers to the local police in 1998.
Riau Andalan spokesman Fachrunnas Jabbar said the company did
donate two Kijangs to the police last year, but declined to
comment further.
Riau police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. S. Pandiangan confirmed
the donation, which he described as a form of public
participation in helping the police doing their work.
"Let me emphasize again that the police are not paid directly.
So it's not about getting paid or collecting fees," Pandiangan
said.
Riau is not the only province where companies allegedly pay
local police and the military in exchange for extra security.
American gold and copper mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia
is paying tens of billions of rupiah to TNI personnel guarding
the company's operations in the restive province of Papua.
Both TNI commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and Freeport have
confirmed the reports. In 2002, the company increased payment to
the TNI to US$5.6 million from $4.7 million in 2001.
The military and the police are struggling to operate amid
tight budgets, which generally amount to less than half of their
requirements.
Even before the 1997 financial crisis crippled the state
budget, President Soeharto had given the TNI and police a
free hand to "make" extra money.
But the policy has outgrown its purpose. Many TNI and police
officers have become intimately involved in various businesses,
many of them reportedly illegal.