Indonesian police have reportedly shot lifeless one protester and injured two others in a flareup of yet one more land dispute between communities and out of doors traders.Residents of the principally Indigenous Dayak village of Bangkal in Central Kalimantan province have since Sept. 16 protested over palm oil firm HMBP’s failure to allocate land to them as required by legislation.Police declare the protesters attacked safety forces within the Oct. 7 conflict, however video and witness accounts from the bottom strongly recommend in any other case.Activists say the Bangkal case is emblematic of how the Indonesian authorities prioritizes industrial pursuits over these of communities, together with utilizing extreme power towards protesters.
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan — Activists have slammed the Indonesian police for rights violations after officers reportedly shot lifeless a villager and injured no less than two others throughout a protest towards an oil palm plantation firm in Borneo.
Gijik, 35, was shot within the chest through the Oct. 7 protest held by residents of the principally Indigenous Dayak village of Bangkal, Central Kalimantan province, in response to AMAN, Indonesia’s principal alliance of Indigenous peoples. Another protester, Taufik Nurrahman, 21, was shot within the waist and is in important situation, Bangkal group chief James Watt informed Mongabay Indonesia. A 3rd individual, Ambaryanto, 53, was injured within the arm and leg, whereas police additionally arrested some 20 villagers, in response to James.
Police opened hearth on the villagers as they protested towards plantation agency PT Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada (HMBP), an affiliate of the BEST Group. The Bangkal villagers have been protesting since Sept. 16 to demand the corporate adjust to its obligation to allocate 20% of its concession to the group below a government-mandated sharing scheme often known as “plasma.”
“What occurred in Seruyan immediately is against the law towards humanity, a violation of human rights, and a violent act achieved brazenly by the state,” stated Uli Arta Siagian, forestry and plantation campaigner on the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).
Sekar Banjaran Aji, nationwide coordinator on the Public Interest Lawyer Network (PIL-NET), referred to as the police’s motion “inhuman” and unjustifiable.
“We can see how the police failed to make use of their logic in order that they resorted to utilizing extreme power, which claimed a life,” she stated.
Central Kalimantan Police spokesman Erlan Munaji stated the police’s actions through the protest have been in accordance with the principles of engagement. He informed native media {that a} pre-deployment examine of all weapons confirmed not one of the police personnel have been carrying reside ammunition, solely blanks, rubber bullets and tear gasoline.
“We’re within the course of [of finding out] whether or not [the victim] died due to that [shooting],” he stated.
Photos shared on social media and accounts from these on the bottom seem to indicate clearly how Gijik died. Alexius Elister, who recognized himself as a relative of the slain protester, stated post-mortem outcomes concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
“What’s left to do is figuring out who’s accountable, and I’ll take authorized motion,” he stated as quoted by native media.
Villagers of Bangkal in Central Kalimantan burn some services owned by palm oil agency PT Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada (HMBP), an affiliate of the BEST Group, throughout a protest in September 2023.
‘Aim for the top!’
There are conflicting accounts of what occurred in Bangkal on Oct. 7.
Police say it was the protesters who first attacked them, utilizing bladed weapons. Erlan stated that whereas a few of the villagers had reached an settlement with HMBP to farm a part of its concession, others had refused to simply accept the settlement and continued protesting towards the corporate. This latter group then tried to reap palm fruit from the plantation on the morning of Oct. 7, Erlan stated.
When the police warned the villagers towards doing so, the protesters began attacking them, he added.
However, varied organizations which have been monitoring the scenario for the previous month say it was the police who began firing tear gasoline and bullets on the protesters with none provocation.
In movies taken through the protest, a person can clearly be heard shouting orders over a loudspeaker to fireplace on the protesters: “Prepare the tear gasoline! Aim for the top! Ready the AK! Let’s play!”
In one other video of the identical second from a unique angle, the individual could be heard urging fellow protesters “don’t get provoked” by the police.
Shortly after the shouting, gunshots could be heard.
“Without any set off from the protesters, the safety forces shot tear gasoline and bullets from firearms,” stated Bayu Herinata, director of Walhi’s Central Kalimantan chapter. “Based on info that we received from the bottom in addition to movies despatched by individuals on the bottom, there’s clearly an instruction from the commander of the safety forces to shoot the protesters.”
In two earlier protests within the long-running dispute, it was additionally the police who began attacking the protesters unprovoked, Bayu stated.
“So we have to query the assertion from the police that they have been attacked first by the protesters,” he stated.
Ferdi Kurnianto, the Central Kalimantan chapter head for Indigenous alliance AMAN, stated a few of the villagers did carry bladed implements through the protest. But these have been conventional Dayak weapons often known as mandau, that are supposed for homemaking or protection functions, not for attacking individuals, he stated.
Farmers from the Penyang village conduct a mass harvest in January 2020 as a battle towards palm oil firm PT Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada. Image courtesy of Herlianto/Save Our Borneo.
Companies over communities
Uli of Walhi stated the Bangkal dispute is emblematic of how the Indonesian authorities manages the nation’s lands and sources.
“There are tons of of corporations in Indonesia, whether or not within the industries of palm oil, forestry or mining, that unilaterally declare possession of ancestral lands and group territories,” she stated. “The pleas of those that reject the businesses’ presence of their territories, or refuse to have their lands taken by the businesses, are ignored [by the government].”
Many of the land conflicts between communities and firms finish within the persecution and criminalization of the communities, she added.
HMBP, the corporate within the Bangkal case, has a historical past of conflicts with different villages wherein protesters and their supporters have confronted persecution. In 2020, the corporate filed legal costs towards Indigenous farmers within the village of Penyang, additionally in Central Kalimantan province, who had been embroiled in a long-standing land dispute with the corporate.
HMBP accused two of the farmers of stealing palm fruit from its plantation. However, the farmers had harvested the fruit from land claimed by the villagers however cultivated illegally by HMBP; the district authorities had already declared the corporate to be working outdoors its concession in 2010. The district chief additionally ordered HMBP to cede the disputed land again to the group — an order the corporate has duly ignored.
Police additionally arrested James Watt, the outstanding group activist, whereas he was in Jakarta, for allegedly orchestrating the alleged theft by the 2 farmers.
In June 2020, a district court docket sentenced James to 10 months in jail, whereas one of many farmers received eight months jail sentence. The different farmer, Hermanus Bin Bison, died in custody, reportedly after being refused correct remedy for his in poor health well being.
Abdul Haris, a campaigner at TuK Indonesia, an NGO that advocates for social justice within the agribusiness sector, blamed the battle in Bangkal on HMBP’s failure to allocate 20% of its concession to the group, as required by legislation. He stated related conflicts will preserve taking place since many different plantation corporations are additionally noncompliant on this entrance.
More than 80% of the 292 palm oil corporations working in Central Kalimantan haven’t supplied plasma plantations to communities, Haris stated, citing authorities information. Nationwide, solely 21% of two,864 plantation corporations within the nation have allotted the obligatory 20% of their concessions, in response to the federal government’s audit company, the BPKP.
Central Kalimantan Governor Sugianto Sabran has requested President Joko Widodo to guage present permits within the province, and to revoke these of any corporations that fail to conform.
Sugianto stated the battle in Bangkal isn’t the fault of the villagers.
“I don’t blame the individuals as a result of they’re demanding their rights which can be cemented within the obligations for corporations to allocate 20% of plasma [plantations],” he stated as quoted by native media.
Sekar of PIL-NET stated the deployment of police in conflicts between communities and firms is a results of the federal government’s resolution in 2018 to categorize oil palm plantations as a nationwide very important object. And generally, the safety forces aspect with corporations over the communities, she stated.
“Our brothers and sisters in funding areas are dropping their rights as residents as a result of the state is prioritizing traders,” Sekar stated. “The authorities retains saying that it’s championing sustainable improvement. But sustainable improvement is improvement that’s wished by the individuals. But on this case, it claims victims and prosecutes the individuals. So who’re the investments for? Who are defended by the safety forces? Are they defending residents or traders?”
Palm oil plantation on rainforest peatland in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia. Image by glennhurowitz through Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0).
Justifying extreme power
Sekar stated there’s additionally a bent by police to make use of extreme power in conflicts between communities and firms. She traced this to the rhetoric of President Widodo, who in 2021 instructed the police to crack down on anybody standing in the best way of traders — a whole U-turn from an order he issued in 2019 to prioritize locals over traders.
Other senior officers have used equally sturdy language, with Luhut Pandjaitan, the senior minister overseeing investments, saying in 2022 that he would “bulldoze” anybody blocking the benefit of funding and allow issuance.
“What’s taking place in Central Kalimantan is prone to be attributable to the president’s instruction, as a result of it’s not solely in Central Kalimantan [where the police used excessive force], but in addition final month in Rempang Island,” Sekar stated.
The battle on Rempang, a part of the Riau Islands archipelago within the Malacca Strait, facilities round a plan by Chinese industrial big Xinyi Glass to construct the world’s second-largest glass and photo voltaic panel manufacturing unit there, profiting from the considerable quartz sand across the island.
The plan entails the eviction of the native islanders, prompting them to stage a number of protests. This drew a heavy-handed response from the safety forces, who on Sept. 7 fired on protesters with rubber bullets and tear gasoline, together with at a center faculty.
According to information from the NGO Consortium on Agrarian Reform (KPA), no less than 69 individuals have died in land conflicts since 2015, a yr into the Widodo administration.
As lengthy because the battle in Bangkal stays unresolved and the group stays liable to persecution, police should withdraw from the area to ease the stress, stated Mohammad Ali, the top of NGO Alliance of Agrarian Reform Movement (AGRA).
It’s additionally necessary for the group to get its rights acknowledged by the allocation of plasma plantations, he added.
Banner picture: Villagers of Bangkal protest towards palm oil firm PT Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada (HMBP), an affiliate of the BEST Group, in October 2023. Image courtesy of the National Workers Union (SPN).
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Article printed by Hayat
agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgessors, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Human Rights, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Oil Palm, Palm Oil, Plantations, Social Conflict, Violence
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