At least 1,000 victims of the Lapindo Brantas mudflow in Sidoarjo,
East Java, are ready to block President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit in Surabaya
on Friday.
"The masses are ready to ambush SBY at any time," Mud Victims Coalition chief Hari
Suwandi told tempointeraktif.com on
Friday.
Yudhoyono is scheduled to attend a campaign rally for the Democratic
Party, at the 10 November Sports Stadium in Surabaya.
The coalition would mobilize the masses if Yudhoyono refuses to receive ten
representatives of the group, Hari said.
Last month, more than 400 victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster demonstrated in
front of the presidential palace for a week, hoping to pressure the government
to pay compensation it had promised them for lost homes and fields -- buried in
mud.
"We sent a letter on March 2 asking to meet the President, but got no response,"
Hari said.
The victims say said that around 4,000 refugees had not yet received
outstanding compensation payments, and have demanded the government force Lapindo to fulfill its
obligations.
The mud volcano at a Lapindo gas and oil exploration site,
has devastated a large area of Sidoarjo. Lapindo is controlled by a business
group owned by the family of chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie.
So far, Lapindo has paid Rp 660 billion, or 20 percent of the agreed compensation
amount (Rp 719.3 billion for a resettlement program and Rp 169 billion for
cash-and-carry settlement). An estimated Rp 5.6 trillion remains unpaid.
(dre)
