N. Sumatra ‘needs Komnas HAM office’

A branch office of the national rights body may be needed in North Sumatra given the high number of human rights violations in the province.

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Ifdhal Kasim said last week that most cases in the province were related to land disputes involving residents, state authorities and/ or privately run plantations. Earlier, a commissioner had said human rights violations in North Sumatra last year amounted to 446 cases, second only to Jakarta, which had the most cases in the country, according to reports filed with Komnas HAM.

“The commission is very open to the possibility of establishing a branch office in North Sumatra; we will discuss any such request,” said Ifdhal at a discussion held at the School of Law at the University of North Sumatra (USU) in Medan. The one-day talk was about the recruitment of new commissioners for the 2012-2017 period.

Komnas HAM thus far has regional offices in West Kalimantan, West Sumatra, Papua, Aceh, Maluku and Central Sulawesi.

In response to questions, Ifdhal explained that the commission had attempted to resolve various rights violations in North Sumatra, but had made no progress so far.

He cited as one example the protracted land dispute concerning the planned new airport in Kuala Namu in Deli Serdang regency, some 30 kilometers south of Medan. Ifdhal said the commission had repeatedly met with the management of the state-run plantation, PT Perkebunan Nusantara II, in a bid to settle the dispute with residents, which began in 1999.

The airport’s management company, PT Angkasa Pura, has refused to deal with residents who demand relocation around Deli Serdang, saying it is no longer responsible as it has bought the land from the
plantation.

“The minister in charge of state-run firms has been replaced a number of times and the case is still unresolved,” Ifdhal said.

The airport remains Polonia due to this dispute, despite downtown Medan becoming increasingly crowded, posing risks both to flights and local residents. Following heavy downpours, the runway often becomes flooded. In 2005, a Mandala airplane crashed just after takeoff, killing 143 people, including bystanders and most of the passengers, one of whom was the incumbent governor at that time,
T. Rizal Nurdin

Ifdhal also responded to questions about the Al Ikhlas Mosque on Jl. Timor, Medan, the location of which is disputed between residents and the Bukit Barisan Military Command. The case remains unsettled despite a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the commission and the Army chief of staff. The mosque was demolished by the command last year, which said it had arranged for a land swap with a local developer to build a mall. The military command built a new mosque nearby, but residents insist on a new mosque in the same area, saying the land is wakaf (charitable) land co-owned by hundreds of families. The Indonesian Military (TNI), however, maintains that the location of the original mosque is on its land.

The assistant to the dean of the USU’s School of Law, Budiman Ginting, said many land disputes in the province involved human rights violations, with the numerous vested interests involved posing the main constraint to their settlement.

A professor at the USU law school, Hasyim Purba, who is also an activist involved in farmers’ issues, expressed support for the establishment of a branch of Komnas HAM in North Sumatra, citing several casualties and the arrest of many activists. Hasyim referred to the recent arrest of 10 farmers in Simalungun regency who were involved in a dispute with another state-run plantation, PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV.