Porsea students stage strike to protest pulp mill

Porsea students stage strike to protest pulp mill

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Thousands of students from 21 elementary and high schools in
Porsea, North Sumatra, have been refusing to go to school for two
days to protest against the reopening of a pulp mill belonging to
PT Toba Lestari Pulp (TPL) in the district.

Anto, a student of a state-run senior high school in
Pardinggaran, Toba-Samosir, confirmed on Thursday that the
students had stopped their studies for the time being to protest
the reopening of the mill.

"And according to the consensus between the students' parents
and the schools, the strike will continue until the government
gives an official response to our demands," he told The Jakarta
Post by telephone.

Anto said that everything was quiet in the neighboring towns
of Porsea, Lumban Julu and Balige following the students'
decision to stay away from school for the last two days.

Separately, the provincial police and administration regretted
the students' strike.

The deputy chief of the local education office, Ardjoni Munir,
accused parents in the regency of violating the education and
children's rights laws, saying parents should not make use of
their children to fight for their own political interests.

"We have reported the case to the governor for action to be
taken. It is a serious problem because parents are stopping their
children from going to school just to pressure the government to
close down the pulp mill," he said.

Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim, spokesman for the North Sumatra
Provincial Police, said the police would look into the student
strike.

"We will questions all headmasters and students as to why they
have launched the strike, and parents who are found to be
stopping their children from going to school will be dealt with
by the courts," he said.

TPL, formerly known as PT Inti Indorayon Utama (PT IIU),
resumed operations at a less-then-full capacity of 200 tons per
day a couple of weeks ago. It had previously been forced to
suspend operations in 1999 following widespread local protests.

The company, a unit of the Radja Garuda Mas (RGM) Group, has
been blamed for environmental degradation in the province,
including decreasing water levels in Lake Toba, river and air
pollution in the vicinity of the factory, and the uncontrolled
felling of forests in the province.

The government allowed the company to resume operations after
it vowed to comply with environmental regulations and undertake a
community development scheme to better the lot of people living
around the mill.

So far, 16 people, including two church ministers, are facing
charges in the Balige District Court for ransacking the Porsea
district chief's offices during a demonstration to protest
against the mill's reopening last November.