Students attack Caltex housing complex in Riau

JAKARTA (JP): Security forces fired warning shots to disperse 1,500 students who attacked on Tuesday a housing complex belonging to PT Caltex Indonesia oil company in Rumbai, 10 kilometers north of the Riau capital, Pekanbaru.

Spokesman for Caltex Indonesia Renville Almatsier, said the students, from Riau University and the Institute for Islamic Studies, also set 29 cars on fire, vandalized a bar in the complex and stoned office windows.

Renville said the students demanded a 10 percent share of oil exploitation revenue from the company, the Indonesian representative of the United States-based Caltex oil company.

"They told us to stop operating until we accept their demand, but we rejected such a condition. State oil company Pertamina won't agree to their terms either," Renville told The Jakarta Post.

"A presidential decree is needed to grant the students' demand."

A witness told AFP the students congregated at 11.30 a.m. Western Time Zone. He said it was a planned event and there had been news the students would protest.

Community leader and a lecturer of Riau University Tabrani Rab, told the Post at least 11 students were injured when security troops quelled the demonstration.

"I regret the act of anarchism, but the students are not the only party to blame. It (the violence) should have not occurred if the government heeds Riau people's demand for a fair share of oil revenue," said Tabrani, who declared a sovereign Riau movement last month.

He warned the government of further violence in the province if it turned a deaf ear to the students.

"It has become a popular (movement), not just a student demand that the government returns 10 percent of oil earnings to Riau."

The students said they would return to the Caltex office on Tuesday if the company failed to approve their demand.

Caltex produces almost half of Indonesia's 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a day.

The company contract reportedly provides for much of the 80 percent share of the oil it gives to the government to go to Riau.

The House of Representatives is currently deliberating a bill on fiscal balance between provincial and central governments. One section of the bill regulates a new formula for revenue sharing. The natural resource-rich provinces of Riau, Aceh and Irian Jaya have repeatedly demanded the government decide on a fairer revenue sharing deal. (jsk/amd)