Students want Bulukumba incident declared a serious crime

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

In observance of National Farmer's Day, more than 100 students here demanded that the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declare the July 21 violence against farmers in Bulukumba regency a serious crime.

The students from various universities and organizations in Makassar, South Sulawesi, staged a protest at the province's legislative council to convey the demand.

"The Bulukumba incident is one of the most violent cases against farmers. They were shot by police officers and two of them died and dozens of others sustained gunshot injuries," protest coordinator Rusdi Idrus said.

"The case shows that the government and security authorities did not side with farmers, though all the people that live on earth depend on farmers' sweat."

Idrus urged Komnas HAM to declare the incident a serious crime committed by the Bulukumba Police.

"It is already clear that farmers have been shot. So, Komnas HAM should not hesitate to categorize it as a serious human rights violation," he told the crowd.

On Sept. 19, a Komnas HAM team said it had verified reports of human rights abuses by police during the Bulukumba violence.

There were indications that the incident could be categorized as a serious crime, said M.M. Billah, a member of the team.

He said the abuses ranged from the torture of suspects to the sexual harassment of female detainees by officers from Bulukumba Police.

The torture directly involved Bulukumba Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tigor Situmorang, Billah said after returning from Bulukumba from a second investigation last week.

According to the police, two villagers were shot and killed by officers when about 1,000 villagers in Bulukumba protested against what they said was decades of occupation of their ancestral land by plantation firm PT London Sumatra (Lonsum).

However, non-governmental organizations put the death toll at five. Dozens of others were injured.

After the incident, most of the male residents of at least two villages near Lonsum fled into the forest to avoid security personnel.

Komnas HAM also verified a report that members of the police's elite Mobile Brigade escorted workers from Lonsum as they destroyed crops belonging to local residents.

Tigor Situmorang, his deputy, Comr. Gatot Budiwiono, and nine other officers have been questioned by South Sulawesi Police detectives over the incident.

Idrus said the incident should not have taken place if the government had resolved the land dispute.

The protesters said the Bulukumba tragedy was not the first violence to victimize farmers.

They said similar cases included the seizure of farmers' land allegedly by military officers at Ballewe village, Barru regency, South Sulawesi, and the arrest of farmers from Paccellekkang village in Gowa regency, also South Sulawesi, in a protest against an alleged occupation of their land by PT Pabrik Kertas Gowa and PT Pabrik Gula Takalar (PGK).

Other cases in the province were the confiscation of local villagers' land by PT Berdikari United Livestock in Pitu Riase subdistrict, Sidrap regency, and the burning of farmers' houses in Soroako village, East Luwu regency as they struggled to take back their land from PT Inco.