Apriadi Gunawan and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Medan/Bandung – In separate protests Monday, farmers in North Sumatra and West Java demanded the government intervene to resolve prolonged, sometimes violent land disputes.
In both provinces, protesters evoked the tragedy of last week's killing of four villagers in East Java during a protest against the Navy over a plot of land.
During the protest in the North Sumatra provincial capital Medan, members of the North Sumatra Farmers Association (SPSU) accused security personnel of intimidating villagers locked in land disputes with plantation companies.
A farmer from the city of Kisaran, Juniar Tampubolon, 36, said he was one of dozens of farmers who had been victimized by security personnel over the course of a dispute with plantation company PT Bakrie Sumatera in Asahan regency.
Juniar said farmers were afraid to stand up for their rights because of what he called "mistreatment" at the hands of security officers.
"I've been hit by around 30 security members. Look at these scars on my face," Juniar told The Jakarta Post. He also showed photographs of what he said were farmers being beaten by security personnel several months ago.
SPSU chairman Wagimin said hundreds of land dispute cases in the province had gone unresolved, most involving plantation companies and villagers.
"We have reported the land expropriation cases many times to the police, but our reports have been ignored. On the contrary, policemen often back the companies that have seized farmers' land," said Wagimin.
He said farmers had filed a police complaint on the expropriation of 600 hectares of land by PT Jaya Baru plantation company in Asahan regency, but had never received a response.
Secretary-general of the Indonesian Farmers Association Henri Saragih, who took part in Monday's protest, said there were 2,000 ongoing land disputes across the country that had the potential to lead to violence. He urged the government to carry out an immediate land reform program, in line with the 1960 Agrarian Law.
North Sumatra provincial spokesman Arsyad Lubis said the administration was working with the National Land Agency (BPN) to resolve disputes in the province. "The BPN is aware of the land disputes. We will work together with it to resolve the problems."
In Bandung, the capital of West Java, farmers and students rallied at the provincial legislative building on Jl. Diponegoro. They condemned last week's shooting in Pasuruan, East Java, in which four people were killed by marines during a protest over a land dispute involving the Navy.
The deputy chairman of Commission A on governance and legal affairs at the West Java legislature, Syaiful Huda, said land disputes in the province involved around one million poor people and 500,000 hectares of land.
"Many of the residents (involved in the disputes) obtained right to cultivate (HGU) licenses on land neglected by plantation companies for dozens of years. In 2005, when most of these HGU licenses ended, the disputes worsened," Syaiful said.
The National Land Agency has listed more than 1,200 land disputes in West Java, most involving plantation companies and farmers holding HGU licenses. The West Java legislature has asked the administration to resolve the disputes before they erupt into violence.
According to data from the land agency, most of the disputes in West Java occur in Garut, Ciamis, Cianjur, Sukabumi and Bogor.
Syaiful also criticized companies caught up in disputes for hiring crowds of people and paying security personnel to intimidate residents. He said the administration should inventory all idle land in the province and distribute it to poor and landless farmers.