Students want Bulukumba incident declared a serious crime
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.