Apriadi Gunawan and Panca Nugraha, Medan/Mataram – In conjunction with the commemoration of National Farmers Day, about 1,000 farmers and university students staged two separate rallies in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday, demanding agrarian reform and enforcement of the Agrarian Law.
Grouped under the Association of Indonesian Farmers (SPI), the protesting farmers said that agrarian reform was urgent given the high number of land dispute cases that had harmed farmers. They also condemned how local administrations dealt with land disputes.
SPI's North Sumatra branch chairman, Wagimin, said that there were currently 14 unresolved land dispute cases in North Sumatra covering a combined 8.2 hectares of agricultural land.
Some of the farmers said they were opposed to large agricultural companies. "We are struggling to win the 14 cases that have created victims and caused losses among farmers," Wagimin said in front of the governor's office.
He said that he hoped that the government would soon bring about true agrarian reform so that farmers would not always become the victims of injustice caused by capitalists.
"Farmers have faced intimidation, violence and even imprisonment. Today, on National Farmers Day, we really hope that the local administrations issue a decision to speed up the processing of land conflict cases in North Sumatra," Wagimin said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of members of North Sumatra University's Students Front staged a rally on the same day at the Majestik traffic circle on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Medan, demanding that the government uphold Law No. 5/1960 on agrarian affairs.
Protest coordinator Boy Raja Marpaung said that Sept. 24 was a historical moment for Indonesians as it was the birth date of agrarian law, which had been achieved through revolution when Indonesians took over Dutch controlled farm land.
"Unfortunately, so far the state still bows to the foreign capitalists' interests," Marpaung said.
He called on the people to say no to the bill on land acquisition, as well as the Indonesian economic growth acceleration master plan and to the Indonesian exclusive economic zones. He also demanded an end to violence and intimidation against farmers.
Separately in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), about 300 farmers and activists staged a rally in front of the governor's office, demanding that the central government to stop importing rice. "The rice import policy will only harm the farmers," chairman of SPI's NTB branch, Wahijan, said.
He also called on the provincial administration to uphold spatial planning according to the land reform movement, and not to use violence and intimidation against farmers to settle land disputes.
Wahijan said that 15 farmers had been placed in police custody in the last six months for their involvement in land disputes with investors. This, he said, showed the authorities sided with investors and were ignorant of farmers' concerns, adding the government always placed the blame on farmers in such disputes.
"We asked the governor to ask the central government to revoke the law on water resources exploitation, on mining and on other things that are harming farmers' interests. Only the agrarian law can guarantee farmers' interests," he said.
NTB People's Coalition coordinator Ahmad Rifai said current spirit of land reform and the recent nationalization of state assets marked a dramatic change from the time of the New Order regime.
"Many of the farmers that have been cultivating their lands for generations have been forcefully displaced from their own lands because the current government wants to offer land to capitalists," Ahmad said.
He also urged NTB Governor Zainul Majdi to set up commissions to settle agricultural land disputes at the regional