Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Dozens of residents of Mesuji Regency in Lampung expressed their grievance before the House of Representatives on Wednesday over what they described as a "mass killing" carried out by members of the police force on behalf of a plantation company in connection to a land dispute.
In their meeting with members of the House's Commission III on legal affairs, they played a video recording showing a group of people, who they alleged were security personnel hired by a plantation company, assaulting villagers and destroying their homes.
One of the videos showed two people, described by the petitioners as Mesuji residents, being beheaded in front of a gathering crowd.
In the graphic footage, a group of people dressed in black and donning masks beheaded two locals using machetes. Bodies of the slain Mesuji residents also appeared to have been mutilated. Some of the assailants were seen toting rifles.
One member of an advocacy team for the Mesuji residents, former Territorial Assistant for Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. (ret.) Saurip Kadi, claimed the recordings had been made in the past few weeks in the midst of a land dispute between locals and plantation firm PT Silva Inhutani Lampung, which is run as a partnership between state-owned forestry company and a Malaysian firm.
As they watched the gory images, some of the lawmakers reacted angrily. "It's scary and horrifying, especially when we must believe that such barbaric acts transpired in this democratic country," Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party said.
Saurip said the assailants had been assaulting villagers in the area since 2008, and had killed 30 people. "Dozens of others are disabled and maybe hundreds have been injured."
Bob Hasan, a lawyer for the local community which he identified as Megou Pak, said that similar assaults had occurred in other parts of the Mesuji area, and also in Tulang Bawang regency and some parts of the Ogan Komering Ilir regency in the neighboring province of South Sumatra.
"Plantation companies in the area hire so-called Pam Swakarsa [informal private security forces] which also consist of police and military personnel. These forces have continued to attack, assault, intimidate, and even rape locals whom they consider opposition," Saurip said.
Bob said that the security officers were responsible for creating conflicts between locals and the company and that it was the private company that reaped the benefits.
Assaults on civilians have taken place since 2003 when the plantation firm started to expand its concession for palm-oil and natural rubber plantations, the residents said.
Local farmers claimed they purchased their land from its rightful owner. Some of the land allegedly illegally occupied by the plantation firm is a sanctuary for the Megou Pak tribe. The firm, however, rejected the claim and continued to attack and intimidate local farmers who refused to give up their land, Saurip said.
It has yet to be confirmed whether the footage was really taken in Mesuji. But Saurip and Bob, as well as the Mesuji people attending the meeting at the House, said the footage had been taken in Mesuji, although many said they had not been present when the footage was captured.
"Numerous locals actually recorded these barbaric killings using their cell-phones. But the Pam Swakarsa then confiscated the phones and deleted any videos they found. Thank God these videos survived," Saurip added.
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairman Ifdhal Kasim said that the commission had received complaints about alleged violence in Lampung earlier this year.
"We noticed that there were harsh criminal acts involved there, so we referred this case to the National Police. However, we haven't heard anything about an investigation launched into the case." National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the police would first validate the authenticity of the video.
Land dispute involving TNI/Police, 2007-2011
June 2007: Four residents shot dead in Alas Tlogo in Pasuruan, East Java. Thirteen marines have been named suspects.
Oct. 10 2008: Police shot four residents of a village in South Sulawesi during a rally over the ownership rights of a plantation plot.
Aug. 9 2009: A clash between local residents and police at a sugarcane plantation in Takalar regency, South Sulawesi, wounded 10 people.
April 14 2010: Two died and at least 130 people, including public order officers, were injured in a violent eviction attempt at a "sacred" memorial complex in Koja, North Jakarta.
Nov. 2010: Nine forest police officers were probed for their alleged involvement in a shooting incident during a scuffle with farmers at Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra.
[Various sources]