'Pylon' the misery as cables spark high tension in Bandung

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung

Dozens of Brebes regency residents visited the offices of state electricity company PT PLN in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, on Monday demanding that the company pay Rp 4.023 billion (US$427,978) in compensation for what the protesters said was the suffering they had experienced.

The residents, claiming to represent more than 800 families in Brebes regency, Central Java province, demanded that they be compensated, or be relocated from their current homes located under high-voltage transmission lines (SUTET).

During the protest, they expressed fears as to their safety living so close to the power lines, which are operated by PLN. After they failed to meet any representatives of the state company on Monday, the protesters staged an overnight sit-in in the grounds of the company offices, and continued their protest on Tuesday.

Adi Susilo, 60, the coordinator of the protest, said that their problems had begun in 1994 when PLN erected high-tension lines across 14 subdistricts in six districts of Brebes regency. The lines started functioning in 1997. At the time, PLN persuaded the local residents that the power lines would not have an adverse impact on them, said Adi.

However, as time went by, those affected say they began to suffer from anemia, heart problems and headaches.

Adi said that the people had been holding protests since 1997, but these had been ignored. They also complained that they were unable to move as no one would buy their land and homes as they were located under the power lines

During Tuesday protests, the residents were met by a PLN lawyer, Said Pellop.

Said said that PLN would in no circumstances pay compensation as demanded by the protesters. He said that Law No. 20/2002 on the electricity industry provided that PT PLN was not required to pay compensation to residents whose homes were located beneath power lines.

In response to the statement, Adi warned that the protesters might take the law into their own hands if their demands were not met.

Another protester, Rohadi, said that if PLN was unwilling to pay compensation, they should at least relocate the electricity pylons and cables elsewhere.