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Rempang sheds light on Jokowi’s ‘land hungry’ national projects
The most common acts of state repression found in land dispute cases are physical violence and verbal intimidation, divide and conquer tactics and criminalization, according to a report by the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI).
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Demonstrators clash with security officials September 7, 2023, while protesting against a plan to move all residents of Rempang island to make way for an economic hub, in Batam City, Riau Islands. (BP Batam via BenarNews/-)
T
he recent conflict in Rempang Island, where locals protested being evicted for the development of a new economic zone, shed light on a worrying trend of state repression in stamping out resistance against national strategic projects.
The government plans to turn the 17,000-hectare Rempang Island, part of Riau Islands province, into a new hub that will house the world’s second largest glass factory and a solar panel manufacturing plant. The plan, however, required the eviction of 10,000 residents of the island.
The locals staged demonstrations that turned into clashes with security forces earlier this month.
Rempang, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Numerous national strategic projects have involved elements of state repression in their development according to the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI).
The institute has handled at least 106 cases of land conflict between residents and the government over the past six years, involving a total of 800,000 hectares worth of disputed land, according to a report from the YLBHI released on Sunday. Around 1 million people were affected in the cases.
The most common act of state repression in settling land conflicts was the use of physical violence and verbal intimidation, which were found in 48 cases.
The next two most common forms of repression were divide and conquer tactics and criminalization. The latter resulted in 212 people being prosecuted, although it is unclear how many of the cases eventually led to the imprisonment of the suspects.
