TPL urges police to stop vandalism
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) has urged local police to investigate vandalism targeting trucks carrying raw materials heading from and to the pulp mill in Porsea district here, Toba Samosir regency.
Company spokesman Chairuddin Pasaribu said that unruly crowds often pelted stones and placed sharp objects on the road where the trucks passed by, and this had certainly disturbed the company's operations.
"The acts of vandalism have gone on for a year. We demand that the police investigate the irresponsible parties behind the vandalism and prosecute them in accordance with the law," Chairuddin said.
Chairuddin asserted that it is was high time the police investigated the vandalism, because it had gone too far, and had even claimed one life.
The fatality, an assistant driver of a tanker supplying glue to the plywood factory in Sibolga, was found dead after being hit by a rock in an attack by an unruly crowd last month.
The incident took place when the tanker was on its way to Porsea. While passing through Lumbanjulu village, the crowd hurled large rocks at the truck and one hit the driver's assistant, killing him on the spot.
The vandalism has also inflicted great material damage as hundreds of truck windshields have been broken and tires damaged due to sharp objects laid on the road leading to the factory.
"Material losses mean nothing compared to the continued feeling of fear and insecurity. The police have to solve this matter immediately," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Porsea Police chief, Adj. Comr. Albert Hutabarat, confirmed that vandalism still continued because some elements of local community had yet to accept the presence of the pulp mill in Porsea.
Protests by the local community and non-governmental organizations have been commonplace since the company began operations in March last year, over fear that the operation of the mill would increase pollution in the area.
Albert said that the police had arrested several perpetrators of the vandalism, and they had even been prosecuted.
Six people suspected of pelting stones at trucks had been arrested and had even been sentenced to between three-and-a-half years and nine years in prison.
"One of them was a student from a private university in Medan," Albert said, adding that the perpetrators routinely terrorized truck drivers from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Due to strong actions by the police, the number of incidents has decreased. In January this year, there were only 12 incidents of vandalism in Lumban Huala and Lumban Gurning villages. It was a sharp decrease, from two to three times that number in the previous months.
"The police will step up efforts to persuade community leaders to ask the people not to commit the acts of vandalism in the future," Albert said.