Rubber tappers report human rights violations

JAKARTA (JP): A group of rubber tappers from South Sumatra sought the help of the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday for the release of 17 colleagues who were detained by police following a clash with a private plantation company.

Yusup Sekin, who headed of the six-man group from Lubuk Tua, a village in Muara Kelingi, Musi Rawas regency, told the commission that their 17 colleagues had been beaten during police investigation into the clash.

He also said 150 other colleagues had gone into hiding since the Oct. 7 clash for fear of police prosecution.

The villagers have been locked in a conflict with PT Musi Rindang Wahana, a Jakarta-based company, over 6,700 hectares of land. The villagers said the land, on which rubber trees have been planted, was the chief source of livelihood for some 1,500 people in the village. The company wants to turn it into an oil palm plantation.

Negotiations between the villagers and the company stalled, and the conflict came to a head on Oct. 17 when the company sent bulldozers to clear the land to build a road. The action provoked anger among villagers who set fire to the bulldozers and attacked the company's nearby base camp.

Muara Kelingi District Police Chief Lt. Col Agustono Dechan, when contacted by phone yesterday, denied the accusation that his men had tortured the 17 villagers under detention.

Agustino said their indictments had been processed and they would be tried in court soon.

He said the riot started with a misunderstanding about the purpose of the road construction. He declined to elaborate.

The incident has hardened the villagers stance. "We're not going to give a single meter of our land to the company that destroyed our village," Yusup said.

Yusup sought assurances from the human rights commission about the fate of his colleagues.

The commission's Secretary-General Baharuddin Lopa urged the villagers to take their case up with the government. "You should approach the government," he said. (03)