Local NGOs challenge Walhi over Bulukumba land dispute

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A leading environmental non-governmental organization (NGO), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has faced a challenge from other local NGOs in its efforts to help settle a land dispute between PT London Sumatra and villagers in Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi.

The long-standing dispute sparked a violent protest on July 21, 2003, against the rubber plantation company, in which at least three villagers were shot dead by police.

Many local male residents were forced to flee to a nearby forest as police hunted them down after the violence.

South Sulawesi Police questioned the Bulukumba Police chief and other local senior officers over the deaths. However, it remains unclear whether they have been charged with violating procedures when they fired shots at the protesting villagers.

The provincial branch of Walhi has urged Central Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Jusuf Manggabarani to resign over his failure to settle the Bulukumba case.

However, a number of activists from local non-governmental organizations rejected Walhi's move against the provincial police chief, saying what the environmental group had done had strayed from its own task of defending the ill-fated Bulukumba residents.

The activists, including Abdul Rasyid, Zohra Andi Baso, Sufri Laude, Asmin Amin, Abdul Azis Paturungi, Makmur, Misfahuddin and Khudri, issued a joint statement on Friday to oppose Walhi over its demand for the resignation of Jusuf.

In response, Walhi's South Sulawesi office director Indah Fatinaware said on Saturday her group would press ahead with "monitoring and criticizing" the police over how they might resolve the Bulukumba incident.

"We shall go ahead because we believe that we are taking the right approach," she told Antara in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Indah said that had the opposing activists continued to follow the dispute between PT London Sumatra and the local residents, they would not have issued such a statement.

"The statement has been made because they are afraid of certain parties," she said, without mentioning any names.

"For sure, our task is not to stray from the core problem or violate existing procedures. Here we shall see who is really committed to struggling for the rights of the people and resisting intimidation."

Walhi said terror and intimidation continued against local people, who claimed their ancestral land had been occupied by PT London Sumatra.

"Police officers even launched raids on a humanitarian post at Bonto Biraeng village (Bulukumba) on Oct. 4 and Oct. 9, 2003," said a press statement from Walhi's central office in Jakarta.