The following stories are the second of a series of reports on the life of residents in Sidoarjo, East Java, who have been affected by a mudflow since 2006. The Jakarta Post's Hans David Tampubolon recently visited the devastated area of Porong.
The continuous mudflow stream in Porong, Sidoarjo, within the last seven years has all but destroyed the social and economic lives of its residents.
The mudflow began in 2006, while PT Lapindo Brantas was conducting drilling within the area. The mudflow has buried more than 600 hectares of land, displacing almost 40,000 people from 12 villages.
According to several residents, who have lost their lands and businesses due to the mudflow, community values have shifted to become more selfish and individualistic within the last two years, whereas it was not that long ago that collectivism and cooperation was the common social spirit.
"Before the mudflow tarnished our lands, people were more willing to share what they had with their neighbors. If someone was sick, then everyone would do their best to help," Harwati, a resident who lost her convenience store business under the mud, told The Jakarta Post during a recent interview.
"But now, things have changed. If you are sick, then it is your own problem. Nobody cares. If you die, you die alone," she added.
Under the presidential regulation No. 14/2007, Lapindo should compensate residents in the area by buying their properties in two separate payments. First, Lapindo should pay residents 20 percent of the property values and the rest of the payment should be completed within two years.
In 2009, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the mudflow was a natural disaster and Lapindo, partially owned by the Bakrie family, had no obligation to pay for compensation. Despite this, Aburizal Bakrie, the patron of the Bakrie family and the chairman of the Golkar Party, has promised to fully compensate the residents by buying their land with the family funds, saying it was the dying wish of his late mother.
However as of now, the payments have not been completed. This has forced people who have not yet received full compensation for their properties to stay within the area, which has practically become a ghost town with only a few businesses and jobs available. In the past, Sidoarjo was famous as East Java's center for shrimp farms and the leather industry.
Harwati said that most of the people who lost their properties and businesses were now unemployed or had to work as motorcycle taxi drivers around the mudflow area.
"Do you see those people sleeping down there? They used to be factory workers. They used to have lives and income to put food on the table for their families. Now, they just come here, lie around and hope for people to give them money just to get by," Harwati said while pointing out a group of people under the dam containing the mud near the Porong main road.
Harwati said that former factory workers in the area had difficulties looking for jobs in other regions because most were over 30 years old when their workplaces sunk under the mud. "Nobody wants to hire old workers. They prefer young people from nearby regions. This is why so many of us have been left unemployed," she said.
As for the young people of Porong who could not get jobs in other regions and could not look for other ventures in their own area, several turned to a life of crime.
"They mug people because they need the money. Once they have the money, they use it to swallow their pain using alcohol. Most of the young people here get drunk every night just to forget their misery," Harwati said.
"Those who could save enough money to own a motorcycle then opt to become motorcycle taxi drivers like myself. But we do not have stable and sufficient income like in the past. When I still had my store, I could earn at least Rp 300,000 (US$30) per week. Now, I can only earn Rp 500,000 per month at the most," she added.
The mudflow disaster has also forced residents to compete against one another for income. "There are official motorcycle taxi drivers around the Lapindo mudflow area and there are unofficial ones," Agus Kholiq, a motorcycle taxi driver, said.
"The official ones have a green identity card which says that they are Lapindo victims. They operate above the dam, while the unofficial ones do not have the cards and mostly hang around below the dam. The unofficial ones are not direct victims of the mudflow. They are probably victims' relatives trying to look for money around here," he added.
However, Cacan, a motorcycle taxi driver who is stationed below the dam, said that what Agus said was not true. "I am a victim as well. I have been to Jakarta many times to demand my rights," Cacan said.
Untung, who once was a farmer before the mud covered his four-hectare farm, said victims had failed to obtain full compensation until now because they had been successfully divided and conquered by Lapindo.
"Lapindo, sometimes, invites some of us for a meeting. The people who come to the meeting will then be suspected as traitors by those who do not come," Untung said.
"The fact that the compensation scheme has changed from the initial one is also suspected to have been masterminded by Lapindo and several residents who received special treatment and facilities from the company," he added.
Under the current compensation scheme, the rest of the payment is paid in monthly installments of Rp 5 million. However, according to Untung, this scheme has not been strictly implemented. "For 2013, we have not received a single payment from Lapindo," he said.
According to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Lapindo still owes Rp 800 billion in compensation.
Lapindo executive Andi Darussalam Tabusala had promised that full compensation would be completed by this May, while Aburizal spokesman Lalu Mara said the delay in the compensation payments was tolerable. "We are only human and we have shortcomings," Lalu Mara said.