Ridwan Max Sijabat – More than 300 mudflow victims Saturday stopped work to heighten the huge dike in their village, protesting the suspension of damaged assets payments.
Children held posters and banners demanding Lapindo pay the compensation, while many women planted banana trees on the dike.
Bambang Wuryantoro, head of the Renokenongo village, said the protesters would not disperse until Minarak came there and paid 20 percent of the assets compensation.
"Twenty percent of the total compensation is merely peanuts for the Bakrie Family, who have multibillion-dollar assets," he said.
Before working hours, hundred of women and children launched a sit-in protest on the dike and project site located east of the hot mud pond.
Meanwhile, hundreds of men, mostly youths, locked heavy equipment steers with iron wires, and put boulders and bars on the road leading to the site.
"Any worker daring to operate a crane to drive the people away is defying us. No worker should come in to this project site, Sunarto, chairman of the Renokenongo mudflow victims grouping (Pagarrekorlap), said.
"We are waiting for the management (of PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya) to come here and pay the compensation."
Workers suspended operations for hours, resuming after several mudflow handling agency (BPLS) employees came to the site to speak with protesters.
The BPLS employees demanded the management of Minarak, a subsidiary of Lapindo Brantas Inc., come and fulfill their promise of compensation.
The employees asked protesters to go to Minarak's office, adding that they should not disturb the project otherwise the mudflow would spread.
BPLS has sped up the dike heightening project in anticipation of any dike falls and floods on the eve of the rainy season.
Pagarrekorlap deputy chairman Pitanto said the victims staged the blockade as a last resort to press Lapindo to pay the compensation because they were deceived many times.
"Lapindo's commitment to buying the damaged assets was signed in the middle of September, and all victims were given bank accounts. But 14 days after the signing, nothing happened," he said.
The mudflow victims staged a demonstration at the Lapindo office last month, demanding the compensation payment. But they were asked to exercise patience because the management was experiencing financial difficulties triggered by the global financial crisis.
"Until when do we have to remain patient? What is the global financial crisis? We cannot suspend hunger because of the crisis. We don't know what excuses the company will give," Pitanto said.
He said the victims still staying in makeshift accommodation at Porong market building were in need of money to pay for a 10-hectare plot of land where they would resettle permanently.
In a dialogue between BPLS, Minarak and the regional administration last week, Sidoarjo regent Win Hendrarso was unable to do much, but told the victims about the energy company's financial difficulties.
Win said the acting governor had sent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a letter, asking BPLS to provide money in advance. But, he said, the President had not responded
Sidoarjo legislative council deputy chairman Djalaluddin Alham protested the proposal. He said it went against the 2007 presidential instruction requiring Lapindo to pay the compensation to the residents of Renokenongo and three other villages devastated by the disaster.
"The compensation payment for the four villages cannot be taken from the state budget, which covers BPLS' operational costs and infrastructure repair projects," he said.
To avoid floods during the incoming rainy season, BPLS is constructing a 2.5-kilometer drain along the nearby railway in the Besuki and Djatirejo villages leading to River Porong.
"With the drain, rain water will not submerge the villages, but rather flow directly to the river," BPLS spokesman Zulkarnain said, adding construction would be completed by December.
BPLS and tap water company PT Jasa Tirta I have worked to reroute river water to the Lengkon Baru Dam in Mojokerto to prevent the river from flooding Surabaya.
"The dam has a capacity of 1,500 cubic meters per second. With the rerouting, Surabaya can be salvaged from floods during the wet season," Jasa Tirta I spokesman Wahyudutonoto said.