INDONESIA: Excessive force used by police in Central Lombok 

Dear friends,

It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that there has been further violence between police and peasants in the village of Tanah Awu in Central Lombok, Indonesia. On 21 June 2006 government officials from Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara came to Tanah Awu with a large number of police and paramilitary officers. Violence broke out with police opening fire and teargas on the peasants.

The police and paramilitary officers consisted of 10 trucks of Police Mobile Brigade troops, one helicopter, one tank, one water canon and 50 paramilitary officers. From the helicopter, the chief of West Nusa Tenggara provincial police told Tanah Awu residents that they were there to simply measure and mark the land, and they should not worry. The helicopter then landed in the middle of the peasants’ agricultural land.

The peasants however, were provoked by the huge police guard. The land in Tanah Awu is currently under dispute, as the West Nusa Tenggara provincial authorities want to build an international airport there, taking away fertile agricultural land from the peasants. In Indonesia, such measuring and marking of land is seen as the first step towards eviction. The peasants were therefore afraid the police would attempt to evict them and they were worried about their watermelon harvest. The peasants and police officers began throwing stones at each other, after which the police opened fire and teargas.

At around 12:30pm, one peasant named Gafar was arrested. He had been injured due to the police fire, suffering from a bleeding leg. He then became unconscious. Four police officers were also injured due to the peasants’ use of knives in self defence. They were taken to the hospital in Penujak village.

In the afternoon, the police closed the main road from West Nusa Tanggara’s capital city of Mataram to Penujak.

The Federation of Indonesian Peasants Union (FSPI) made a complaint to the national human rights commission, Komnas HAM the next day, June 22. According to Komnas HAM, they had visited Tanah Awu and asked the police to end all violence. On June 23, the FSPI demonstrated outside the office of the National Indonesian Police regarding the West Nusa Tenggara provincial police’s use of excessive force. Saturday, July 1 will mark Indonesia’s national police day. While the Indonesian police are keen to focus on their professionalism, this incident underlines the abuse of power and lack of respect for human rights that is prevalent within Indonesia’s police force.

Although there is no ongoing violence, the police are still present in Tanah Awu, and the peasants are living in fear.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

There are many cases of forced land evictions throughout Indonesia. The situation in Tanah Awu, Central Lombok is particularly disturbing. The conflict between the Lombok government–represented by local municipality leaders–and the peasants has led to severe oppression since 1995. See our earlier appeal, FA-26-2005 for more information.

The conflict in large part is due to the local government’s plan to build an international airport.
However the plan is in clear contradiction with the interests of the local population. Tourism is declining and is less important for the province, while food production is crucial, given that West Nusa Tenggara is the second province most affected by hunger and malnutrition diseases in Indonesia. Furthermore, there has been no effective consultation with the peasants regarding the use of their land.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities regarding this matter. Please urge them to investigate police behaviour in this case, and hold the responsible officers accountable.

Automated email letters can be sent by the AHRC Urgent Appeals on-line support system. To support this appeal please refer to http://www.ahrchk.net/support.php?ua=UA-207-2006. For those contacts without an email address, we ask that you still write a letter and post or fax this. If you have any problems or questions using this system, please feel free to contact us at ua@ahrchk.org.

 

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