Long simmering resentment behind Cilacap's unrest

By Agus Maryono

CILACAP, Central Java (JP): Sarwono has worked for 15 years on a trawler owned by a man from Bagansiapi-api, Riau, and complains he has nothing to show for his toil.

"Look at my house, my friends' houses, we have worked for 15 years, and we can't even afford to buy a TV set," the 47-year-old griped. "I had been planning to buy one in July, but I found out that the money I had been saving was not enough because the price had increased by 200 percent."

Another fisherman, Siswadi, spoke up. "Look at those newcomers from Bagansiapi-api, they work for only two days and they have gotten rich. They have big capital, they pay us only Rp 2,000 (18 U.S. cents) per day, never gave us a raise for the past six years and make profits hundreds of times over."

The "newcomers", who have in fact resided in the area for more than 20 years, are the hundreds of ethnic Chinese fishery bosses who operate in the Nusantara Fishery Port in Cilacap.

About 20,000 fishermen work out of the port. About half are employed by the bosses, and the rest operate small boats called cempreng on their own.

Gains made by the outsiders -- all from Bagansiapi-api in the Riau province -- have fueled simmering resentment and jealousy.

Although their children were born and educated here, the owners and their families were the target when thousands of fishermen ran amok late last month.

"The toke (bosses) exploited us like we're slaves," Siswadi muttered to nods of agreement from his colleagues.

Another fisherman complained about how the fishery bosses did not provide safety equipment on the boats. "If one of us got killed while working, the most that the boss would do is give our family Rp 200,000 in consolation money."

At least 13 trawlers, four cars, 10 motorcycles and 20 houses belonging to Chinese-Indonesians were either burned or damaged in the rampage that started on Friday, Aug. 29, and continued until Sunday.

Cilacap Police chief Col. Andi Lolo confirmed the riots were triggered by the fishermen's discontent over low wages and the alleged corruption of some port officials.

In addition to daily wages of Rp 2,000, crews get 2 percent worth of the total haul. But even after the backbreaking work of setting out to sea day and night is finished, there is no guarantee the fishermen will land their allotted share.

At the weighing station, the fishermen charge, corrupt officials step in.

Karjo related the procedure, and the fishermen's grievance.

"All of the haul is brought to the auction place, where it is weighed. This is where we should receive our money, but instead the port officials give us coupons with the amount of money that is owed us.

"We are never involved in the weighing and, if we protest, they kick us out of the crew," he said. "If the boat catches five metric tons of fish, the port officials say there's only three tons, so we get an even smaller amount of money."

The manipulation of the amount makes a big difference.

"With Rp 2,000 wages, we make only Rp 14,000 for a full week of working at sea. We get the additional 2 percent commission only if the total haul exceeds Rp 1 million."

"What can we do with Rp 2,000?," lamented Siswadi, whose two children have been forced to drop out of elementary and junior high schools because he cannot afford the fees. "We can't even buy a kilogram of rice for two nights of work.

"Where can we get the money to send our children to school? We can't even buy decent meals. We often have to eat only rice with salted fish."

Many fishermen are saddled with debt to either the fishery owners or local cooperatives. The price of a kilogram of rice is Rp 4,000, more expensive than in neighboring Purwokerto because Cilacap has higher living costs due to the presence of the Pertamina oil plant and other industries.

Atas Munandar, the chairman of the Sentolo Kawat Fishermen Association, charged the corrupt practices of port officials had been going on for the past six years.

Port chief Aris Sugiharto refuted the allegation, saying his office had complete data of fish production which showed a 50 percent increase over last year.

Trawlers

Fishermen also complained about a rapid increase in the number of trawlers from Bagansiapi-api operating in the area. Their presence threatened to drive out the cempreng, they said.

"We have complained about this to the port authorities, but we never got any response. Two days before the rioting, we heard that there were 50 new trawlers arriving from Bagan," Atas said.

About 400 trawlers operate in the port, all belonging to the Chinese-Indonesian owners from Bagansiapi-api, according to Atas.

"They effectively displaced us. We just don't want them to be here," a fisherman said.

Stunned fishery bosses have been left to lick their wounds and count the losses from the rioting.

Hartono, who is better known as Atay, told The Jakarta Post how saddened he was by the violence and vandalism.

"Look at our boats ... they have become worthless junk. I just don't know how everything turned out to be like this.

"My two boats were worth Rp 750 million each, not counting the nets and other equipment that they burned."

Atay, 33, challenged the fishermen's complaints over wages.

"The Rp 2,000 wage is something that we agreed upon together. They have never protested. They continued to show up for work to go out to sea. Wasn't that proof that the wage was not a problem for them?"

Akab, a friend of Atay, concurred. Expressing shock and dismay over the rioting, Akab denied he ever mistreated his workers.

"No matter how great or small our haul is, we pay our workers," he said.

"The fishermen should have talked to us, discussed things, before they did all this."

Despite the destruction from the riots, the fishermen are better off now, at least on paper.

Following police intervention and intense negotiations, the bosses agreed to increase the fishermen's pay to Rp 5,000 per day and their share of the haul to 40 percent.