Police sued over arrest of Porsea protesters
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
An alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in North Sumatra filed a lawsuit against the police in connection with the arrest on Thursday of 18 people who had protested the planned reopening of pulp sawmills PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), demanding the police release them unconditionally.
Erwin Nasution, coordinator of the advocacy team representing the NGOs, including the Legal Aid Foundation in Medan and the Environmental Forum (Walhi), said he had submitted the lawsuit to the district court in Tarutung on Tuesday, in the hope that the case would be processed immediately.
"The police must release 16 people who are still in detention at North Tapanuli police station because the police have no justification to arrest them," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Tuesday.
The police arrested 18 people -- two of whom have already been released -- when hundreds of Porsea residents staged a violent demonstration in Sirait Uruk to protest the pulp and paper company's reopening. The demonstration turned violent as several demonstrators threw stones at riot police and the office of the Porsea district chief.
Erwin said the situation in Porsea still remained tense as hundreds of security personnel had been deployed to enhance security around the plant's compound.
He said some of the 500 people who took refuge in Pae Radja, Tarutung, had returned home, but others were still hiding in forested areas to avoid being intimidated by unidentified gunmen.
"Most residents of Porsea are extremely dissatisfied, as they have been intimidated and the government has deployed security personnel to fight against the people for a certain businessman's financial interests," he said.
Spokesman for the North Sumatra Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim said the police were ready to face the lawsuit, saying it was the NGOs' right to bring it and the police would continue to process the case for court.
"We are preparing three dossiers on the 16 detainees. The case of Musa Gurning, suspected of provoking protesters, is in the first, while two church ministers who pelted stones at security personnel and the office of the Porsea district chief are the subject of the second dossier, with the remaining 13 suspects included in the third," he said.
Meanwhile, North Sumatra legislative council called on TPL management to meet with NGOs and Porsea residents, instead of hiding behind the security authorities, to end the crisis.
"The repressive approach used by security authorities will not solve the problem because the public will continue to protest against the plant," member of the provincial legislature M.P. Lumbang Tobing said when he received activists of the 17 NGOs here on Tuesday.
He said TPL should demonstrate a fresh approach, especially on social and environmental matters, to assure people in Porsea that the pulp and paper sawmills would not damage the environment and should establish a social development program to help improve the social welfare of people living around the factory.
S. Leo Batubara, a member of Team-11 dealing with the company's planned reopening, warned the Indonesian government could risk losing US$600 million if the company, whose old name was PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU), was closed down without an audit.
The plant was established with the total capital of $600 million.
"The company's foreign shareholders could take the government to international arbitration if the company were closed down without good reason.
"The company should be allowed to resume operations, following which it could be audited after a certain time to evaluate whether the company was polluting the environment or not," he said.
The company could be taken to court and closed down if proven guilty, he added.