Looting, intimidation haunt employees

Looting, intimidation haunt employees

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Thousands of employees at an oil palm
plantation in Kisaran, Asahan regency, in North Sumatra are
living in fear of looters who have been terrorizing them, Antara
reported on Tuesday.

The director of PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations, Sugiarto, told
a delegation from the provincial legislature last week that the
looters had burned or stolen motorcycles and livestock belonging
to the employees.

The news agency quoted Sugiarto as saying the plantations's
security personnel were outnumbered by the looters, many of whom
were children and housewives.

However, Sugiarto said his repeated calls to the authorities
for security reinforcements had gone unheeded. He said that
between January and August, hundreds of thousands of metric tons
of oil palm fruit and latex had been looted, causing material
losses of Rp 649 million.

The company has to deal with an average of between 30 to 50
cases of looting per month. So far, 1,940 looters have been
arrested, most of them women and children. (byg)