Farouk Arnaz, Ezra Sihite & Tunggadewa Mattangkilang – The National Police released a video on Wednesday that they said proved villagers were the ones guilty of brutality in several recent land disputes in Sumatra, not the police.
"We need to get the correct information out to people so they are not provoked by false information," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution told journalists.
The video showed what appeared to be villagers, armed with machetes and spears and some wearing masks, attacking a facility belonging to plantation company Barat Selatan Makmur Investindo in Lampung. They were also seen sighting fire to what looked like a company dormitory, warehouse and guard post.
Saud dismissed several claims made by a group of farmers who went to the House of Representatives last week and said that 30 people had been killed for their land.
"Only nine people died," he said, adding that seven were killed in a clash in South Sumatra's Mesuji subdistrict. He said another person died in an incident in Mesuji district in Lampung, with the ninth death occurring during the attack by villagers on BSMI.
The farmers showed lawmakers two videos last week containing images of extreme violence, including against farmers and apparently involving police officers and uniformed plantation guards.
Saud, however, said that two men seen being beheaded in the videos were not farmers but private security guards trained by the police to help maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Forum for Palm Oil Workers Unions, Mansuetus Darto, said 28 large palm oil companies nationwide were involved in land disputes with residents that had the potential to erupt into violence.
"Our records show that there are 28 large palm oil companies involved in conflicts with locals in Riau, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Palembang, West Kalimantan and in Jambi," he said.
Most disputes, he said, are caused by plantation companies not allowing residents, who often farm collectively and hold customary rights to the land, to grow crops on vacant plots surrounding oil palm trees.
"This is the root of the problem between locals and palm oil companies," he said
He called for a freeze on new permits for palm oil plantations, saying the focus should be on maximizing production at existing plantations.
Herman Hery, from House Commission III on legal affairs, said the commission had gathered information on the violence in Sumatra, though he did not say what their next step would be.
He said lawmakers had found indications that law enforcers allowed violence to take place, and that the National Land Agency had failed to properly manage the disputes.
That news was greeted with a shrug by Indra Firsada, head of the Bandar Lampung chapter of the Legal Aid Institute. He said he had little faith in lawmakers and the government's fact-finding team looking into the violence.
"Nothing can be learned if the team is there for just a day," he said, adding that they only met with locals once and then left before doing further investigating.