FLORES (UCAN): The Diocese of Maumere on the island of Flores, Indonesia, has been accused of promoting violence after a company it manages demolished dozens of homes in a bid to evict some 200 indigenous people from disputed land.
People hired by PT Kristus Raja Maumere, the company owned by the diocese, demolished 50 homes and crops on farmland belonging to the Soge Natarmage and Goban Runut-Tana Ai indigenous communities in Nangahale, Sikka Regency on January 22.
UCAN obtained images showing and paramilitary soldiers guarding heavy equipment, including an excavator, used for the eviction drive. Video images also showed a group of hired workers destroying the homes, ignoring protests.
Several women indigenous were seen sitting on the heavy equipment and protesting, crying and screaming, and stuffing soil into their mouths as an expression of extreme desperation.
The eviction move came amid an ongoing court trial of eight indigenous people who were arrested by the police last year for allegedly destroying the company’s assets.
Some 200 evicted people are now forced to spend the night in the ruins of their homes, the statement said, adding that eviction, despite the ongoing court case, is ‘a form of arrogance’ on the part of the company
Antonius Toni, a member of the Goban tribe, said that he was at the Sikka District Court accompanying eight residents when he heard that his house was destroyed and his wife was injured by falling debris.
He said his wife and several other residents were at home when a group of people came, forced their way in, and drove an excavator through the yard. His wife was hospitalised.
The conflict centres on 868,730 hectares of land seized during Dutch rule in Indonesia. After independence, the land was handed over to the Archdiocese of Ende through a limited liability company, PT. Perkebunan Kelapa Diag. The Diocese of Maumere began took over ownership after it was established in 2005.
The company’s land permit expired in 2013, and indigenous people living on and cultivating the land attempted to claim it. However, in 2023, the company obtained a permit extension, but the dispute persisted.
Agrarian Reform Consortium [ARC], an alliance of 92 indigenous advocacy and community organisations, in a January 23 statement slammed the company’s actions as “brutal, barbaric and inhumane.”
Some 200 evicted people are now forced to spend the night in the ruins of their homes, the statement said, adding that eviction, despite the ongoing court case, is “a form of arrogance” on the part of the company.
“This step is truly ironic,” considering that such an action comes from a diocese supposed to “protect the community and prioritise the values of justice and humanity,” the groups said. The groups also criticised the government for “ignoring the agrarian crimes” committed by the company.
Bishop Martinus Ewaldus Sedu of Maumere declined to comment when contacted.
Maximilianus Herson Loi, executive chairperson of the Flores branch of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, said, “The clergy should protect their people from the threat of eviction and criminalisation.”
Loi said the Church should prioritise dignified dialogue to resolve any such conflict. He also criticised the security forces who acted as protectors and guardians of the company.
“Is it because the indigenous peoples do not have money that they do not deserve to be protected?” he asked.
According to the ARC, in 2024 at least 111 cases of agrarian conflicts due to plantation concessions of indigenous communities.
Plantation conflicts have always been the highest contributor to agrarian conflicts, with 1,242 agrarian conflicts recorded in the last decade, the group said.
“This indicates that there are fundamental and acute problems related to the issuance, extension and renewal of land use rights in Indonesia,” it pointed out.
