Oyos Saroso H.N, Bandar Lampung – An increasing number of illegal occupants at the Register 45 area in Mesuji regency, Lampung, is hindering work to resolve the violent agrarian conflict that claimed three lives late last year.
The area is one of several hot spots across the regency, where nine people have been killed in land disputes, since 2010.
Thousands of illegal residents of the 45,000 hectares of forest comprising Register 45 area have obtained power from state electricity company PT PLN, thus rousing envy from residents in established villages who still live without electricity and have had a protracted dispute over land ownership rights with plantation company PT Silva Inhutani Lampung.
Residents of the nearby villages have asked PLN to supply electricity to their homes for decades to no avail, Haryanto, one of the villagers, said on Thursday.
The disparity in electric power service has created bad blood between the communities. "How can we not envy them when our villages are left in the dark, while the forest encroachers can get electricity?" Haryanto said.
Many squatters entered the Register 45 area from other areas, including Banten, South Sumatra, East Java and even Bali, according to Haryanto.
Lampung Governor Sjachroedin ZP, who has previously asked the police to drive the squatters out, has admitted that his ability to resolve the problem is limited.
"Authority to settle the problem is in the hands of the central government. As a regional leader, I can only urge the illegal occupants to leave the Register 45 area as soon as possible, and say that no new squatters should enter the area," Sjachroedin said.
The Register 45 case started in 1989 with the establishment of a residential site by the Lampung provincial administration. Then, the Forestry Ministry issued a decree in 1997 granting PT Silva Inhutani the right to manage 43,100 hectares of land in the area under the timber estate concession (HTI) scheme.
The company has used its remit to develop 22,000 hectares of the concession. The remaining land was left idle until the Megou Pak, a local indigenous tribe, claimed a section of the unused area.
The tribe illegally sold the land to outsiders who thought the land's legal status was clear.
Currently, thousands of farmers occupy 12,000 hectares of PT Silva Inhutani's concession, making it hard for the company to maintain and expand its plantations.
Overwhelmed, PT Silva Inhutani asked Sjachroedin to evict the squatters from its concession. The authorities chose to use force, launching a raid on Nov. 6 last year that killed three people.
Tisnanta, a member of the fact-finding team sent to the region in the aftermath of the attack, said that negotiations to settle the agrarian conflict in Mesuji had been taken over by the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister.
"The settlement is expected to be completed next month, when all illegal occupants will be driven out of the area forcefully," Tisnanta said.
However, Tisnanta said that the target would likely not be met, given the 12 people who were killed in ethnic violence in nearby South Lampung late last month.
"I have advised the central government not to use repressive means to evict the illegal occupants in Register 45, as it will only cause many casualties. With the use of the repressive means, the number of victims is feared to be much higher than those last year because the forest encroachers have become increasingly powerful," he said.