Translated text:

Authored by S. Rahma Mary H Noer Fauzi Rachman

EXPERT COLUMN, MEDIA INDONESIA, December 26, 2011

In early December 2011, the Indonesian public was shocked by complaints from representatives of several villages in Mesuji, Lampung to the representatives in the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI). They reported the murder of around 30 villagers near oil palm plantations in Mesuji Regency, Lampung and South Sumatra. The incidents occurred between 2009-2011.

The community representatives exposed the crimes of plantation and Industrial Timber Plantation (HTI) companies against the communities around the oil palm plantations. First, the case of the murder of residents of Sodong Village, Mesuji District, Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, in a land conflict between the community and PT Sumber Wangi Alam, secondly, the case of the shooting of residents of Kagungan Dalam, Sri Tanjung, and Nipah Kuning Villages, Mesuji Regency, North Lampung, in a land conflict between the community and PT Barat Selatan Makmur Investindo, and thirdly, the killing of a resident in a land conflict in Register 45 Sungai Buaya, Lampung, between the communities of Kampung Talang Batu, Talang Gunung, and Labuhan Batin, Way Serdang District, Mesuji Regency, Lampung, with PT. Silva Inhutani.

The three cases above are categorized as human rights violations based on land grabbing from communities for oil palm plantations that occurred around the 1990s. The government approved permit applications for opening land for oil palm plantations and Industrial Timber Plantations submitted by these companies. The ease of obtaining location permits for both oil palm plantations and industrial timber plantation permits for PT. Silva Inhutani was the beginning of this agrarian conflict.

The agrarian conflicts in Mesuji, Lampung, and South Sumatra have broken the ice on handling thousands of agrarian conflicts. The government has mostly ignored these conflicts. Data compiled by the Association for Community and Ecological Based Law Reform (HuMa) states that in the last ten years, there have been 108 agrarian conflicts in 10 provinces in Indonesia dominated by tenurial conflicts in forest areas (69 cases) and plantation conflicts (23 cases). The National Land Agency (BPN) even recorded 8000 agrarian conflicts in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Sawit Watch recorded 663 land conflicts in oil palm plantations throughout Indonesia. These agrarian conflicts involve private plantation companies and state-owned enterprises, mining companies, National Parks, and Perhutani. HuMa also observed that in almost every conflict, there is involvement of security forces such as the police and military. Additionally, there is also involvement of thugs or paramilitary groups. Business owners use them to secure the company from community demands for the land owned by the company. Security forces, which should protect and safeguard the community according to their function in Law No. 2 of 2002 concerning the Police, prefer to guard the interests of the company. Communities demanding land also become targets criminalized by the police.

Roots of Conflict: Use and Abuse of Authority

During the New Order era, especially around 1980-1997, the government granted many location and forest utilization permits to companies engaged in plantations and forestry. From investigations by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), it was found that PT. Barat Selatan Makmur Investindo (BSMI) obtained a location permit from the National Land Agency (BPN) of the Republic of Indonesia in 1994 for an area of 10,000 hectares for the core plantation and 5,000 hectares for plasma plantation. PT. BSMI then expanded its oil palm plantation area by 2,455 hectares beyond the permit issued by BPN. Forest utilization permits were also issued by the Minister of Forestry for PT. Silva Inhutani in 1991 on an area of 32,600 hectares. Meanwhile, PT. Sumber Wangi Alam was suspected of taking over 1,533 hectares of community land in Sungai Sodong Village for oil palm plantations.

The granting of permits to these companies did not consider the existence of village residents who were already on the land. The community was not asked for approval for the issuance of these permits. The trigger for agrarian conflict in the HTI area of Register 45 Sungai Buaya was because the government had expanded the forest area where some of the land was customary land. The demands of the residents of Gunung Batu Village for the return of 7,000 hectares of land taken over by the company were only granted by the government with an area of 2,300 hectares to then be