Villagers protest PLN's planned public listing

JAKARTA (JP): Sixty Ciseeng, Cihoe and Cibentang villagers of the Bogor regency, claiming PLN cheated them in a high-voltage cable installation deal, went to Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) yesterday to demand the JSX reject PLN's planned public listing.

The protesters, mostly children and youths, said JSX should turn down PLN's planned public listing because the company's Cilegon-Cibinong 500 kilovolts transmission line project was "troubled".

They told the JSX they had filed a lawsuit against PLN and therefore the JSX should reject their plan to go public.

"If the JSX accepts PLN's plan to go public, JSX will become a responsible party in our on-going legal battle," they said.

PLN has planned to go public next year, but observers say they doubt it will eventuate.

One of the youths, Dandung, told The Jakarta Post they had hired a bus to get to Jakarta. "We only want the PLN to give appropriate compensation for appropriating our ancestral lands," he said.

Light security surrounded the protesting villagers who chanted and sang songs about their sufferings, spread banners and waved posters.

Some posters read Reject PLN Shares, PLN harms People, Sutet (high-voltage cable) has Ruined our Crops, Poor Ciseeng Villagers Seek Land Compensation and Development for People, not against the People.

The villagers peacefully dispersed after about an hour when about 15 of them went to the German Embassy on Jl. Raden Saleh, Central Jakarta to continue their protest.

The German government, through Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau (KFW), has helped fund the project which crosses 149 villages along the Cilegon and Cibinong rivers on 492 towers.

Yesterday's protests continue the villagers' fight for their rights. They have lodged complaints with the local administrations in their villages, districts, regencies.

They have also complained to local legislators, police, Army Headquarters and the National Commission on Human Rights here. (aan)