Khairul Saleh and Oyos Saroso H.N., Palembang/Lampung – A clash between employees of a plantation firm and local residents in South Sumatra left seven people dead on Thursday.
The clash took place in Sungai Sodong village, Mesuji district, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) regency. The seven victims were three local residents and four company security guards. Only two of them were identified – Syafei, 18, and Matchan, 21, both from the village.
According to a Sodong community figure, Chican Syafei, the incident occured when PT Sumber Wangi Alam (SWA) hired 40 "hoodlums" to secure the oil palm plantation area measuring 298 hectares, whose ownership the villagers disputed. Two residents told the 40 security guards not to occupy the area because its status was disputed.
"They [hoodlums] were not happy, and they became furious. An unequal fight then ensued and resulted in the death of three villagers," said Chican, adding that the dead villagers had been shot and their throats cut.
After learning about the incident, villagers went to the SWA office located 4 kilometers from their village. There they clashed with company security guards, killing four guards. Frightened employees fled to a nearby company for safety.
The local and provincial police could not be reached to confirm the incident because their phones were not active.
Separately, in Lampung, relatives of victims who were killed in separate incidents in West Tulangbawang regency demanded the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) investigate the cases.
They claimed human rights violations had occurred in the shooting deaths of a man called Sahab at a music show on April 19 and Anton Saputra, a farmer, in a riot that ensued at the Tulangbawang Udik Police station on the same day. The families of the two victims demanded the police apologize for the shootings.
"The police officer who shot my uncle is from the internal affairs division. If my uncle was accused of being a drug trafficker, then why would an officer from the internal affairs get involved," Sahab's nephew, Iwan, 26, said on Thursday.
"My uncle was shot when he was shaking hands with a female singer at an entertainment event in the neighboring village of Gunungmenanti in Tumijajar district. Even if he was accused of being a repeat offender by the police, that doesn't mean that he can simply be shot and killed," Iwan said.
A Gunungbatin villager, Aliwansyah, who is also a Central Lampung regency councilor from the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, said his faction would help the victims' families obtain justice.
"Based on information we received from eyewitnesses, the police shot at the crowd first. The crowd had not yet reached the Tulangbawang Udik Police station when they were shot at by hundreds of police personnel," Aliwansyah said.
He said that if the authorities did not resolve the case, there would be serious consequences, such as vandalism against police stations and communal conflicts.
As of Thursday, Anton's family was still awaiting the results of Anton's autopsy at Abdoel Moeloek General Hospital in Bandarlampung. X-ray photos showed that seven projectiles had lodged in his body; three in ribs on his left side and four in ribs on his right side.