Indra Harsaputra and Ridway M. Sijabat, Sidoarjo/Jakarta – Tempers flared again Monday at a rally by hundreds of people from Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, frustrated by handling of the mudflow disaster.
Two police officers were injured after protesters pelted them with stones outside the local administration office. They demanded that Lapindo Brantas Inc. – the owner of the gas exploration well which ruptured on May 29 and has caused massive damage to its surroundings – provide an assurance that their five villages would not be affected by the mudflow.
Local representatives agreed with their demand, even though sparing their villages of Keboguyang, Permisan, Glagaharum, Plumbon and Sentul would mean others in the area would have to be sacrificed to accommodate the unstoppable mudflow.
"We understand they are stressed due to the mudflow and are demanding certainty about their fate," Sidoarjo Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Utomo Heru Cahyono said.
Violence has marred protests by increasingly restless residents in recent weeks, with thousands demanding higher compensation after the torrent of mud engulfed their homes and the shrimp ponds dotting coastal Sidoarjo.
Residents vandalized Lapindo Brantas water pipes last Friday. At a different rally, protesters threw a soldier into one of the ponds allocated to contain the mud. He was not injured. They also have periodically closed the local turnpike, and there have been clashes between neighboring villages over possible inundation.
Residents also have expressed suspicions local officials have been bought off by the company. "I will force myself to defend you until I fall sick. I just ask you to believe me and deputy regent," Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendraso told the protesters Monday.
In a related development, another Lapindo employee died Monday when he was crushed by a bulldozer raising an embankment for mud containment. The man, identified as Hariyanto, died at 8:30 a.m. He was the second victim after Yuli Eko Artanto, the operator of the excavator machine, died Friday from massive injuries suffered in a mudflow site explosion.
In Jakarta, a group of academics warned Monday of the likelihood of greater social conflicts due to the government's slow handling of the problem.
They said the victims had exhausted their patience, especially before the post-fasting month Idul Fitri holiday in October. They said a greater ecological disaster was inevitable because the mudflow was getting worse ahead of the rainy season, due to begin in November.
Hotman Siahaan, representing the Board of Surabaya Academy, said in a meeting with the House leadership that the situation was at a critical point.
"Hot mud spewing out of the company's mining site will generate a major disaster on the eve of the rainy season; mudflow will swamp all surrounding densely populated areas, including the turnpike network, while the Madurese people are prepared to take up their machetes if the government goes ahead with its decision to dispose the hot mud into the Java Sea," he said.
The Airlangga University sociology professor accompanied Nahdlatul Ulama clerics and councillors from the East Java provincial legislature, who asked the House of Representatives to pressure the government to set up a special body to handle the disaster.
"In this emergency condition, the government has to be tough in taking necessary actions to avoid a major disaster and also must be transparent in giving locals accurate information on the mudflow. It also must provide certainty about compensation for the people in entering the fasting month," he said.