Human rights body to probe land dispute in Kutai
Human rights body to probe land dispute in Kutai
JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights has pledged to solve a prolonged land dispute in East Kalimantan that is punctuated with human rights abuses.
Villagers from Menamang, in the Muara Kaman district, Kutai regency told the commission yesterday that they have been victimized by local military personnel.
"We will write a letter to the government asking for an investigation," secretary-general of the commission, Baharuddin Lopa, said after a meeting with three Menamang villagers.
"We were asked to perform absurd things like changing bullets to water. When we could not do the tasks we were either beaten or forced to bear the weight of a rifle with our teeth or burned with cigarette butts," one of the villagers said.
The three villagers said they were among 14 people who had been ill-treated by military personnel from the 611 Samarinda battalion and the 0906 Kutai military district on Jan. 13 when they went to the base camp of PT Surya Hutani Jaya, a private forestry concession company.
They went to the camp to ask for the settlement of compensation for their whole village encompassing a land area of 1,663 hectares which was appropriated by the company in 1992.
The company offered Rp 240 million but the 294 families in the village, demanded Rp 2 billion.
Signs of physical abuses were shown by the villagers including include traces of severe beatings and cigarette burns. However, they were not able to present medical evidence.
Lopa said physical scars and pictures were not convincing enough to be a legal basis for an immediate investigation.
The villagers were accompanied by NGO activist Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara.
"We need to hear from both sides, the commission cannot be biased," Lopa told the group yesterday.
Lopa lamented reports accusing the commission of being passive and not active enough in handling such situations.
"Just because we don't publicize our work does not mean that we are inactive," said Lopa. (14)