At least 25 farmers were shot and three killed last year in Indonesia as
a result of land disputes and agrarian conflicts that continued to
contribute to a number of arrests, injuries and fatalities in the
country, according to a land reform group. Although 2011 was a
more deadly year for agrarian conflicts, with 22 deaths linked to land
disputes, the total number of conflicts rose in 2012, from 163 to 198,
the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) said. “The year 2012 was a year when agrarian justice was buried,” said KPA deputy chairman Iwan Nurdin.
Iwan
highlighted cases over the last two years in South Sumatra and Lampung,
where bloody conflicts persist between farmers and large palm oil
plantations. Tensions first erupted in 2011, but a lack of government
commitment to addressing the problem’s root causes prompted the conflict
to resurface again last year, Iwan said. In July, police, who
many believe were siding with plantation owners, opened fire on a group
of protesting farmers in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, who accused private
plantation companies of encroaching on their lands. A child was fatally shot by police during the protest.
The
KPA also noted that 156 farmers have been arbitrarily arrested for
protesting against land encroachment by big businesses, while none of
the land dispute cases were ever investigated. Agrarian conflicts have also caused 55 farmers to sustain injuries from heavy-handed policing and torture. Iwan
said the government must change its paradigm and identify the root
causes of the problem. Authorities, he said, currently saw land
conflicts as no more than criminal matters. The KPA said 45
percent of land disputes in Indonesia last year involved the farming
sector, while 30 percent were linked to infrastructure construction
projects.
Eleven percent of the conflicts were related to mining
while forestry and fish farms contributed to 4 percent and 3 percent of
the disputes, respectively. East Java was home to the largest
number of land conflicts, with 24 cases recorded last year. North
Sumatra came in second with 21 cases while Jakarta, West Java and South
Sumatra tied for third place with 13 cases each. “President SBY
[Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] is a president who promised agrarian reform
in his campaign advertisements,” Iwan said.
“The fact is, as we all
know, the government has not fulfilled its promises as mandated by the
Constitution and Agrarian Law.” Iwan also criticized the
appointment of former Attorney General Hendarman Supandji as head of the
National Land Agency (BPN) last year. The appointment of
Hendarman, whose term as attorney general was rife with controversies
and criticisms, paved the way for further distrust among farmers and
land owners that the government would put an end to land encroachment,
Iwan claimed. “Permits and concessions are so easily given
because their issuance is rife with corruption, which in turn paves the
way for conflicts,” he said.
Iwan highlighted the corruption
case of business tycoon Siti Hartati Murdaya, who allegedly paid Buol
district head Amran Batalipu Rp 3 billion ($312,000) in bribes for the
right to establish a 4,500-hectare palm oil plantation in Central
Sulawesi. That case, Iwan said, was just the tip of the iceberg.
source : the jakarta post
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