Sugar farmers storm Cirebon port

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

Around 1,500 sugarcane growers and workers from sugar companies in Cirebon, West Java, stormed the city's seaport on Wednesday to protest against imports of sugar, which they claimed were threatening the survival of local growers and producers.

They even tried to set ablaze a warehouse belonging to PT Yala Githa Tama inside the port complex, where some 3,000 tons of suspected imported sugar is allegedly stored.

Their attempt was foiled by hundreds of police who were deployed to the scene, and who then established a cordon around the warehouse.

However, the security personnel were powerless to prevent the angry demonstrators from seizing bags of sugar from the warehouse and dumping them in the street.

The protesters, comprising sugarcane growers, and workers from three sugar plants, Sindanglaut, Tersana Baru and Karangsembung, arrived at the port aboard 12 trucks and four pick-up vans and directly started to search warehouses looking for smuggled sugar.

Muhammad Anwar Asmali, coordinator of the protest and leader of the Sindanglaut branch of the Sugarcane Growers' Association, said the demonstration was spurred by the local producers' frustration over the government's lack of attention to their problems and the flood of imported sugar that was inundating the country.

The protest caused traffic to back up for hours outside the port as the demonstrators blocked the West Java-Central Java- Jakarta highway. The congestion was ended after the local police directed motorists onto the alternative Kedaung road.

Anwar demanded that imports and supplies of sugar from outside Cirebon be halted as local farmers were harvesting their crops and the three sugar companies were already in full production.

"So, it's not right that sugar supplies from other regions are brought in as this hits prices on the local market," he argued.

Anwar, accompanied by Emon Hamdani and Akhmad Marzuki -- leaders of the Indonesian Sugar Entrepreneurs' Association (APTRI) -- also urged the authorities to seal the port warehouses and not allow sugar stored in them to be released for sale until the local growers' produce had all been sold.

The protesters threatened to dump sugarcane along the north coast road in Cirebon should the government fail to heed their demands and take action to protect growers.

They dispersed after their representatives won assurances from the local authorities to accept all their demands.

Those who met with the demonstrators included APTRI leaders, officials from the Cirebon trade and industry office, the local customs and excise office, the local state-owned port management company, PT Pelindo II, and local senior police officers.