T

he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) says it will summon the regents of Muara Enim and Ogan Ilir to mediate a land dispute spanning their regencies.

“We will summon both regents because the conflict deals with the fate of transmigrant families there,” Komnas HAM deputy head Nur Kholis said in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Wednesday.

The families come from three villages: Sungai Rambutan Transmigration Settlement Unit II, Tanjung Pulai and Tanjung Pulai Independent Transmigration Village.

According to Nur, the families, relocated to the area by government, had deeds to the land in the area but were not allowed to live on it, triggering the conflict.

The disputed land measures 459 hectares near Sungai Rambutan Independent Integrated City in Indralaya district in Ogan Ilir.

A deadline set by South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to resolve the dispute by April passed without action.

Around 450 residents of the villages gathered at Sungai Rambutan Transmigration Settlement Unit II village hall in April to place boundary markers on the disputed land in Tanjung Baru village on the border of Ogan Ilir and Muara Enim.

“The time for promises has passed. We feel deceived,” one village leader, Kimin said, as quoted by kompas.com.

According to Kimin, the disputed was sold to private buyers or converted into a plantation by PT Indralaya Agro Lestari (PT IAL).

Another local leader, Junaedy, was phlegmatic. “The local residents actually have no qualms about dividing the land. The only drawback was from third parties who claimed the land.”