Unease grips South Sulawesi district after shooting
Unease grips South Sulawesi district after shooting
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
The South Sulawesi district of Kajang in Bulukumba regency was
tense on Saturday, a day after police shot a resident who was
part of protests over disputed land.
Aso bin Susa was shot in the leg by officers from the Mobile
Brigade conducting a search for about 200 local residents who had
tried to reclaim disputed land from rubber plantation company PT
London Sumatra (Lonsum) on Friday.
"The residents were forced to kneel down at gunpoint, but when
Aso stood up one of the police officers shouted to the other
officers that Aso had a bomb in his bag.
"The farmer panicked and attempted to flee, at which point the
police shot him," Amrin Salasa of the Bulukumba People's Council,
a non-governmental organization, told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday.
Aso was taken to the Bulukumba General Hospital for treatment,
while four other residents were arrested for the possession of
sharp weapons.
It was the second incident in the last several months
involving police and local residents, who have been in a dispute
with the plantation company over a plot of land since 1997.
On July 21, police shot and killed two Bulukumba residents
during a violent protest over the land. The National Commission
on Human Rights is investigating the incident.
Amrin said the residents gathered at the plantation company on
Friday to clear the disputed land for the upcoming planting
season.
The residents pulled out poles marking the ownership of the
land and filled in holes where rubber tree seedlings were to be
planted by the company.
Amrin said the company should avoid all activity on the land
until the dispute is settled.
Some 20 Mobile Brigade officers arrived at the scene to
disperse the residents, telling them the land belonged to PT
Lonsum.
Bulukumba Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tigor Situmorang said
Aso was shot after he ignored police orders.
"When he resisted arrest we had no choice but to shoot him. He
was also carrying a bow," Tigor said.
He said that in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled that the
residents had a right to 200 hectares of land in the area, which
did not include the land PT Lonsum has turned into a rubber
plantation.
"Legally, the residents cannot claim the land belonging to PT
Lonsum," Tigor said.
He said a number of people wanted by the police since the
previous incident in July were behind the protest on Friday.