Polls give Kedungpring villagers renewed hope

By Asip Agus Hasani

BOYOLALI, Central Java (JP): Thousands of Kedungpring villagers who lost land to Soeharto's Kedungombo Dam project in the 1980s voted at Monday's polls because of renewed faith that a new government would help ease suffering.

These are the same people who boycotted the 1997 general election. "We have been suffering in makeshift shelters these past eleven years," said 75-year-old Sopawiro Parman, who insisted on staying in squalid conditions in a restricted green belt area surrounding the dam.

Sopawiro, known by villagers as Mbah (Grandpa) Jenggot, said elections used to have nothing to do with them. "Joining the polls have always meant perpetuating our misery because Golkar always won," he said.

Now that reform is here, they went to the polls with new hope. "Pak Harto, who was president for decades, eventually stepped down. May be our case, too, will now be settled," Sopawiro said.

For many like Sopawiro, a solution to the land appropriation dispute has been a mere dream for years. The World Bank-funded megaproject of damming Serang River to generate 22.5 megawatts of electricity became internationally controversial because of the forced eviction of farmers and residents who protested a compensation of only Rp 250 (a quarter of one US cent) per square meter of land.

Some 9,529 hectares of land were appropriated then, home to 5,628 families of the regencies of Boyolali, Sragen and Grobogan. A number of the residents were relocated to regions outside Java while others continued the struggle to get decent compensation.

Some refused to budge from homes and land even when the water started to flood in. These were the people whom Soeharto once called mbalelo, stubborn rebels.

"We were intimidated, terrorized, kidnapped and accused of being PKI (the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party)," said Sopawiro, who was among those who tried to hold on to land even when the dam began to fill with water.

In May 1991, Soeharto inaugurated the Kedungombo Dam which by then cost Rp 152 billion (US$78.3 million based on contemporary exchange rates).

The residents of Kedungpring are known as the most vocal in the protest against the project. The village is no longer there, but the residents held on to the name and used it for the place they relocated to in the green belt area just meters away from the dam.

While some of the Kedung Ombo inhabitants reluctantly signed the appropriation papers in the end and accepted the money because of fears of further intimidation, the Kedungpring residents still refused.

They set up the Association of Kedung Ombo Dam Victims involving members from 17 hamlets. With the help of legal aid offices in Jakarta and in Semarang, some 90 kilometers away, the association conveyed protests to then Central Java governor Soewardi.

In late 1989, Soewardi offered an increase of compensation to Rp 810 per square meter of land. Still, the villagers refused. In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled the Central Java administration to pay the residents Rp 50,000 per square meter.

One month later, Soewardi appealed the decree. No progress has been made since then.

Squalid

Even now, the Kedung Ombo people, especially the Kedungpring villagers who have never received any compensation, live in a sad situation. They no longer farm except on small patches of land in the restricted green belt area. Every piece of personal property they brought when they were evicted such as jewelry has long since gone.

"I used to own 17 cows, but I sold the last one two years ago to buy rice with, and to pay for my children's medication when they fell ill," said Sucitro, 60, of Kedungpring.

Out of the 34 families in Kedungpring's "new" village, there are always one or two members forced to seek work in Jakarta. Sucitro's eldest son now works in a spoon factory in Jakarta while his eldest daughter works as a domestic helper.

"Just like the other families in Kedungpring who rely on sons or daughters, we survive with the help from our son in Jakarta," Sucitro said.

When life is difficult, one of the first things to go is schooling. The association's chairman, Darsono, said since the relocation, only two Kedungpring children finished junior high school and eight finished elementary school. Right now there are 20 children who are being educated in the fourth grade.

"Usually, as soon as they complete elementary school, our children go to work in Jakarta to help finance younger siblings' schooling," Darsono said. "When Romo Mangunwijaya died, we were very sad because he was the only one who cared enough to try to provide free schooling for children."

Malnutrition, poor sanitation and even death are the price that the Kedungpring villagers have had to pay for the "stubbornness" and yet they continued the protest by, among other things, boycotting the 1997 elections.

Darsono recounted how a day before the elections then, seven trucks full of troops visited the Kedungpring village. Together with local officials, the troops went door to door, threatening the inhabitants to vote.

"At 2:30 in the morning they banged on doors, shouting, asking us who told us to boycott the poll. We all gave the same answer, 'the dam water did'," Darsono said.

People's party

Darsono said the residents voted on Monday, June 7, because they believed a change was in the air.

"We used to be forced into voting for Golkar. Now, there's no longer intimidation," Darsono said. "We felt like the poll on Monday was really something that had to do with us. A party for us."

A meeting of the Kedung Ombo residents on May 3 decided that not only would they join the poll, but they would vote for Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

"The residents here believe that if she becomes president, Bu Mega would listen to us and help solve our case," Darsono said.

A total of 103 residents of Kedungpring went to the polling place on Monday, together with 65 residents of Kedungrejo. A total of 149 votes were for PDI Perjuangan, followed by 15 votes for Golkar and four for National Awakening Party (PKB).

"I am sure, the 15 votes for Golkar came from the Kedungrejo residents," Darsono said.

Darsono said in 1992, the residents already supported PDI Perjuangan. "We love Bung Karno, the father of Bu Mega, because he was close to little people like us. So if Bu Mega becomes president, we are sure she will pay attention to us."

"Actually, we don't mind whoever becomes president, as long as they really help us," he said.

In mid-May, some 20 residents of Kedung Ombo met with Amien Rais of National Mandate Party (PAN) when he was campaigning in Surakarta. They asked for a guarantee that if he becomes president, he would help them.

"This does not mean our protest is finished. As soon as there's a new president, we will protest again," Darsono said.