First Lady's name used for intimidation

First Lady's name used for intimidation

JAKARTA (JP): Farmers who are fighting with a state plantation
company over a 3,000-hectare plot of land in South Sumatra say
their adversary is intimidating them by suggesting that the land
is being acquired for a project owned by First Lady Tien
Soeharto.

Some 30 villagers representing 1,116 others from the Muara
Enim regency in South Sumatra visited the House of
Representatives (DPR) yesterday to complain that the authorities
have turned a blind eye to repeated appeals to take a look at
their plight since the dispute began eight years ago.

PTP X, the state plantation company, has resorted to
intimidation to edge the villagers out of the land, where the
fruit and vegetable plants had provided them with their main
source of income, the farmers told members of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) faction.

The company moved in on the property in 1986 and cut down all
the plants, they said, adding that having been forced off their
land, most of the villagers have now become farm laborers.

The farmers are still fighting for compensation, which they
said they never received.

They said they had sought the help of the Ministry of Home
Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, which oversees PTP X, and
the Attorney General's office, but none have been willing to give
assistance.

One response did come from the State Secretariat last
September which said that it had ordered PTP X to resolve the
problem, but there was never any follow-up, they added.

Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of the PDI faction promised the
evicted farmers that he will look into the matter and will appeal
to the South Sumatra governor to find a solution.

He also urged the authorities to take action against those who
abused the First Lady's name. "They should be prosecuted." (par)