Jakarta – Residents from seven villages in Lampung province destroyed part of a sugarcane plantation owned by Indonesia's largest business establishment, the Salim Group, after the company failed to settle a land dispute, a newspaper said Saturday.

The Suara Pembaruan evening daily reported that by Friday the villagers had chopped down some 75 hectares (185 acres) of canes in the 3,000 hectare plantation area, whose takeover in 1992 by Salim's Sweet Indo Lampungthey dispute.

In August SIL reportedly promised to settle the land dispute by September in a meeting between company managers, residents and local government. Residents claimed the disputed 3,000 hectares of land belonged to them, citing as proof one hectare of land in the plantation left untouched by the company because it considered the sacred land of the local people.

One of the village chiefs, Mohamad Adam, said he could not prevent the villagers from destroying the plantation because the company failed to fulfill its own promise.

Lands minister Hasan Basri Durin said this week that the government was contemplating limiting the size of plantations that an individual company could own, citing unfair distribution over the past years. Since the fall of president Suharto May 21, villagers in several districts have taken land disputes into their own hands, claiming non-existant or inadequate compensation.