Thousands of fishermen run amok in Cilacap

By Agus Maryono

CILACAP, Central Java (JP): Thousands of fishermen ran amok yesterday at the Nusantara Fishery Port and nearby areas because of low wages and corruption. They burned at least 10 trawlers, four cars, 10 motorcycles and 20 houses belonging to residents of Chinese descent.

The angry mob continued rampaging until late into the evening. From the port areas, they continued into the center of Cilacap, despite the deployment of hundreds of security personnel and two further platoons of reinforcements from nearby towns.

The authorities arrested at least 14 people. There were no reports of any injuries, but tension ran high and a number of thoroughfares were blocked by security forces.

The rioting erupted in the morning when thousands of angry fishermen started to burn a number of trawlers moored in the fishing port near here.

They then moved eastward into Cilacap, burning and damaging a warehouse and shrimp ponds owned by Chinese-Indonesians, and several cars in nearby areas.

Hundreds of local military personnel were well outnumbered by the mob and the authorities were forced to call for back-up from the nearby towns of Wangon and Purwokerto, 20 and 40 kilometers north of Cilacap respectively.

The mobs initially refrained from looting any of the buildings. By evening, however, they started to loot a number of stores.

Cilacap Police chief Col. Andi Lolo told The Jakarta Post that the riots were triggered by the fishermen's discontent over the low wages paid by their employers and the alleged corruption of a number of port officials.

"For years, the fishermen have been paid only Rp 2,000 (18 U.S. cents) per day," Andi said, adding that their wages were below the regional minimum wage.

Andi estimated the riot had caused billions of rupiah worth of damages.

"A trawler is worth Rp 500 million. There are also the damaged buildings, cars and other facilities," Andi said, adding that extra security measures were needed because Cilacap is an important supplier of fuel for state-owned oil company Pertamina.

The crews of the fishing boats and fishermen said they were exploited by their employers. They also said that they had not received a pay rise in the past six years.

They also complained about how port officials extorted money from them.

"Not only are we paid Rp 2,000 per day, we are also cheated by the port officials," one of the fishermen, Marwoto, said. "The port officials often cut our actual daily haul (so we earn even less).

"If we get five metric tons of fish, 15 percent of which we are entitled to bring home, they say the haul is only three tons and this means we lose almost half of the haul," added Marwoto.

Andi said he would soon summon the fishermen, employers and the officials to discuss the matter.

Antara, however, quoted local military chief Col. Moh. Noer Muis as saying that the unrest was triggered by a fight among the fishermen themselves.

A local fisherman told of how fishermen from Bagansiapi-api, Riau, who operated in the areas, often made more money because they had better equipments, causing envy among the locals. In addition, the Riau fishermen often violated a local lore that fishermen must not work on certain Fridays.

"We were angry at them and that's why this happened," the local fisherman was quoted by the news agency as saying.

Yesterday's incident follows Thursday's unrest when troops clamped down on mobs attacking and pillaging rice mills, shops and plantations in the East Java town of Bondowoso and the surrounding districts of Pujer, Tlogosari and Wonosari.

Similar incidents also took place in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, on Wednesday when security personnel fired warning shots at hundreds of people attacking an office of a state-run palm oil plantation there.