Deadly clash between police and Indigenous community demanding land rights in Indonesian Palm Oil case

One person died and more were seriously injured after Indigenous Bangkal community members protested against a Palm Oil company that has taken over their customary lands.

On 7th October, Indonesian police violently repressed a demonstration of Indigenous People who were protesting the occupation of their traditional lands by a subsidiary of the large palm oil group, Best Agro. One indigenous person was killed, a further one or two wounded and more than a dozen were also arrested.

 

“We consider it to be a violation of human rights when state agents who are tasked with defending the public engage in repression directed towards the community. Especially because what is done by the community is just to obtain their rights that [are] legally protected under [the] Constitution,” said a statement from Indonesian NGOs in response to the violence.

The action took place on the customary lands of the community of Bangkal, in the District of Seruyan, Central Kalimantan Province, most of whom are Dayak Banjar Indigenous people. They were objecting to the takeover of their customary lands by the oil palm company, PT Hamparan Massawit Bangun Persada (HMBP), without providing smallholdings. The communities have been contesting this takeover since 2008, although the company has been expanding its operations on the community’s lands for much longer.

Local residents claim that not only has HMBP taken over their lands without recognising their customary rights, but that it has also expanded beyond the area of the company’s permit, issued by the government. They allege that 1,175 hectares of their lands outside the permit have been taken over and planted on by the company. They want these lands returned to their use as oil palm smallholdings.

The community has been actively pushing its claims for at least three weeks and some local government officials are reported to have tried to mediate between the company and the people to find a compromise. An offer of about 400 hectares of smallholdings has been made but was not accepted by all the residents, some of whom then decided to occupy the disputed area and blockade access.

In reaction to the recent killing, local NGOs, JPIC, PROGRESS and YMKL, who have been working with the local communities to help address land disputes, have released a statement calling on the local government to apply the methods they have adopted as part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s ‘Jurisdictional Approach’, which the local government aspires to.

The National Indigenous Peoples Alliance (AMAN) has issued a statement strongly condemning the police actions as a violation of human rights and demanding they withdraw from the disputed area.

AMAN and other NGOs have also called on the National Human Rights Commission to investigate, which is reported to have agreed to look into the situation immediately, noting that the underlying causes of this dispute need to be clearly understood. For their part, the police claim they are now investigating the incident. Unconfirmed reports suggest that in response to the appeals the police have now released those who were arrested.

 

“Forest Peoples Programme calls on the parties to resolve the dispute through peace and justice, giving proper recognition of the Indigenous peoples’ rights to their customary lands. An investigation needs to be carried out into who ordered the massive action by the mobile police brigade (BRIMOB) which turned a non-violent protest into a tragedy,” said Marcus Colchester, Senior Policy Advisor at FPP.

------ ENDS ------

Contacts for more information

Frances Jenner, Comms and Media Officer, Forest Peoples Programme

fjenner@forestpeoples.org

Marcus Colchester, Senior Policy Advisor at FPP

marcus@forestpeoples.org

Further information:

NGO statements:

AMAN Statement

PilNet Statement

YMKL Statement

Local news coverage

Mongabay Indonesia