Residents attack officials' homes

TANGERANG: Hundreds of residents attacked on Thursday the houses of Lontar village officials, who they accused of taking bribes to allow offshore sand mining to resume in the area.

The houses of village head Sanusi, village representative body (BPD) chairman Animan and the chairman of Indonesian Fishermen's Union (HNSI) were damaged by the residents. The occupants managed to escape through back entrances and no one was injured.

The residents of Lontar and Alang-alang villages said the authorities had allowed offshore sand miner PT Jetsar to resume its operations in the Tirtayasa area in Serang, Banten province. The company had resumed its operations on Monday, they said

The villagers later took a flotilla of 40 small boats on a mission to burn PT Jetsar's Kalimantan II and Aru II dredging vessels but police halted them.

The regent stopped PT Jetsar's operations earlier this month because of local protests against the dredging's environmental impact.

However, a source from the regency office said Serang Regent Bunyamin had again given the project the green light.

"(The decision) was based on a study that said the sand dredging did not cause environmental damage as was claimed by residents ... the company is allowed to resume operations but it has to follow the rules," the source said. -- JP