Forty-seven people, including children, stayed the night in the National Commission on Human Rights office in Pontianak in West Kalimantan on Thursday because they were afraid of being arrested by the police after a land dispute with a company.

Most of the residents were from Olak-Olak village in Kubu district, Kubu Raya regency. They left their village after a prolonged land dispute with oil palm plantation company PT Sintang Raya.

The head of the Komnas HAM West Kalimantan office, Kasful Anwar, told thejakartapost.com Friday that about 50 residents had talked to him at the Komnas HAM office on Monday, about the conflict, in which the police went to their village and arrested four residents.

Scared, almost 300 residents of the village left their homes and stayed in the provincial capital Pontianak and other places last week.

Kasful said the police had promised the residents that they would be safe and asked them to return to their village. “But many are still worried and scared of being arrested by the police,” Kasful said.

West Kalimantan Police spokesperson, Adj. Sr. Comr. Suhadi SW said the police had followed procedure and had arrested people accused of stealing palm fruit bunches on the PT Sintang Raya concession recently.

“We sent summonses to the suspects with regard to the fruit bunches, but they failed to heed the summons, so we arrested them according to procedure,” Suhadi said.

The residents have been in a prolonged land dispute with the company. The company’s legal officer, Harlen Sitorus, said the residents wanted the company to return 11,000 hectares of concession land to them while he claimed the Supreme Court had ordered the company to return only 5 hectares.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Severianus Endi

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]