FLORES (UCAN): Villagers in the Christian-majority province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, say police violently beat them up as they protested an upcoming geothermal project near their traditional land.
“Three of them [protesters] were seriously injured. Some others suffered minor injuries,” one villager, Servasius Masyudi Onggal, from the predominantly Catholic Island of Flores in Manggarai Regency, said.
Two people are currently being treated at the local clinic, while a seriously injured man was hospitalised, Onggal said on June 22.
Police beat up dozens of villagers from Poco Leok, on Flores, when they started a two-day protest on June 20 against a geothermal project spearheaded by state-owned PT State Electricity Company [PT PLN].
The project is funded by Germany’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau bank as part of the Ulumbu power plant expansion.
Onggal is in possession of a number of videos, showing villagers, including women, screaming when they tried to stop a PT PLN team from measuring their traditional land under heavy police and military presence.
Onggal said residents have been on guard since June 9 when the team first staked claims on their lands.
“In the last few days, tensions have been escalating, with more security forces deployed,” he said.
One protester, Paulina Imbut, said the deployment has made them “feel insecure,” adding, “Each time we wanted to go to the garden to work, we cancelled it” seeing the forces.
The people have the basic right to life, the right to a comfortable living space, the right to welfare, the right to maintain their cultural identity as an indigenous community entity with all its authority and the right to justice
Father Marthen Jenarut
Onggal said the villagers rejected the project because its drilling points were close to their traditional land and houses.
Marsianus Gampu, an activist with the Indonesia Catholic Students’ Association, criticised the repressive police action.
“Security forces should act as a mediator between those who are pro and against the project,” and not support one of the parties, Gampu, associated with the Ruteng unit of the students’ wing, said.
Manggarai district police chief, AKBP Edwin Saleh, justified the police action on Flores Island, a designated geothermal island since 2017.
“It is a state project, not in the private sector. In this case, the police have the duty and responsibility to secure the implementation of the project,” he told reporters on June 22. He also claimed that the police did not take repressive measures, but only carried out the necessary safeguards.
Father Marthen Jenarut, head of Diocese of Ruteng, which covers the area, said although geothermal is claimed to be environmental-friendly and sustainable, the government and investors will have to “respect the basic rights of the local community.”
“The people have the basic right to life, the right to a comfortable living space, the right to welfare, the right to maintain their cultural identity as an indigenous community entity with all its authority and the right to justice,” Father Jenarut said.
The Ulumbu power plant, about three kilometres to the west of Poco Leok is undergoing expansion to hike capacity to 40 megawatts from the current 10 megawatts.
Siswo Hariyono, head of the National Land Agency in Manggarai Regency, said that the measurement of land for the project would continue, claiming it was a national strategic project.
“This project will continue. We can’t wait for all the problems to be resolved,” Hariyono said.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Flores Island has a total geothermal potential of 902 megawatts, or 65 per cent of the total capacity in East Nusa Tenggara province.
Amidst protests from villagers, the authorities have identified 16 project points along the island. However, one of them in Mataloko in Ngada Regency was abandoned, while its former drilling hole continues to emit hot mud up to 500 metres to one kilometre which has damaged agricultural land.
