Police arrest farmers in land dispute: Walhi
Police arrest farmers in land dispute: Walhi
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) slammed on
Sunday a series of police arrests of farmers in Muna regency in
Southeast Sulawesi in connection with an unsettled land dispute.
The latest arrests made by the local police involved three
residents of Kontu district in Muna on Saturday for allegedly
cutting trees in a forest claimed by the local government as its
property.
Walhi Southeast Sulawesi official Laode Ota said the arrests
were carried out without warrants.
He added that before the incident, the police had forcibly
detained five Kontu people in November.
One person suffered from breathing difficulties after he was
hit by the police in the chest and back while being arrested.
Thus, since 2001 a total of 12 people have been detained by
the police with some of them being brought to trial and others
released.
Another 10 farmers were also questioned by the police last
month.
The problem emerged as the local government claimed to own the
forest, which produces high quality logs, but Kontu people claim
the forest had been their ancestral land which they had been
cultivating for years, according to Walhi.
As the local government planned to rehabilitate the forest,
officials ordered Kontu people to abandon it, Walhi added.
"We want the local police to stop detaining Kontu people and
resolve the problem without violence," said Ridha Saleh, the
deputy director of Walhi.
According to him, the government should talk to the Kontu
people about its plan instead of evicting them.
Ridha also called on the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) to conduct an investigation to prevent the local
police from arresting more people and perpetrating further
violence.
"It is sad that Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10, has
not had an impact in Indonesia," he said.
To mark Human Rights Day, 96 non-governmental organizations
lashed out at the country's administrations for frequently
ignoring people's social and economic rights, as had happened
during the many evictions that had been taking place recently.
Muna Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alimudin admitted that his
personnel had detained three Kontu people.
"We arrested them for cutting down trees in the forest
belonging to the state," he told the Jakarta Post.
He said the police charged the people with theft and would
submit the case to the local prosecutor's office.
According to Alimudin, if the local people continued to cut
trees in the forest, the forest would soon disappear, along with
its water resources.