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)