Sugar farmers storm Cirebon port

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.