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)