Authorities have painted a picture of armed bandits associated with farmers union Serikat Mandiri Batanghari (SMB) led by a man named Muslim and his wife, Deli Fitri. In July of last year, the police claimed they found a bunker containing dozens of firearms and drugs in the union’s possession during the arrest of 59 members.

The union members were arrested for allegedly assaulting fire fighters extinguishing a land fire. After the arrest, the authority burned the union’s farmland and public facilities. Thousands fled the area fearing for their safety.

The police called them an “armed criminal group”. The company considered them a threat to investment. But their lawyers, working pro bono at the the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), said they were residents who simply wanted to farm.

To learn more about the group, which claims a membership of 6,000, The Jakarta Post visited the disputed area in early December 2019.

The land dispute involved the SMB, other residents in a cooperative called Koperasi Alam Sumber Sejahtera (KASS) and PT Wira Karyasakti (WKS), a subsidiary of the Sinar Mas Group, which focuses on forestry in Belanti Jaya village, Mersam district, Batanghari regency, Jambi.

The members of the SMB requested anonymity out of concern for their safety. All the names in this report have been changed.

Ravaged land

Mak Do and her husband Guntur had been SMB members for almost two years. They were among the few union members still living in Mersam district. Most of the other members had fled the village in fear of more arrests.

It took two hours to get from Guntur’s house to the land at the heart of the conflict. Ravaged land extended down from the mountainous horizon, but several banana trees and sweet potato plants remained, indicating that the area was once cultivated.

Another farmer, Udin, saw what had become of the formerly fertile land, and after an hour there, he could not hold back his tears. “Could we leave this place? I do not have the heart to see this place again,” he said.

In addition to losing their land, the union members also lost neighbors. During the violent arrests in July, thousands fled the area and went into hiding in the forests. The remaining members said none had returned.

One farmer’s mental health had deteriorated after the arrests and the burning of his farmland and home. His wife left him after the destruction, leaving him with two young children.

Farmers’ dreams

“Our sweetest memories are of the time when we didn’t have to buy chilis and other vegetables,” said Bu De, also member of the group.

The deserted land is now claimed and being cultivated by KASS. The cooperative is being run by Sengkati Baru village residents who had been in conflict for the land with SMB members.

Near the SMB’s former land, there are transmigration areas called Bukit Kemuning and Bukit Harapan. In these areas, migrants from outside Jambi can own and cultivate land. This became an inspiration for Muslim and his followers in the SMB — “living by our own harvest and having our own land,” said Marzuki, another SMB member.

Muslim has realized the SMB’s 6,000 members’ dreams of owning land. Every family is permitted to cultivate three hectares of land and has been allocated an additional 5,000 square meters on which to build a home.

Over the years, stories of a “promised land” spread outside of Mersam district. People from all over began to arrive.

“We lived in Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity],” one member said, referring to Indonesia’s national slogan. “We helped each other,” he said.

Before cultivating the land, SMB farmers would cut down trees, including acacias that had been growing for generations. Under the leadership of Muslim, they cultivated rice, chillies, vegetables, sweet potatoes and bananas.

When the harvest came, they collected the fruits of their labor for their own consumption. If there was a surplus, it would be given to newcomers. If there were still leftovers, they would be sold to neighboring villages such as Sengkati Baru, members said.

To join the collective, new members had to pay Rp 5 million per family to Muslim. Members interviewed by the Post said the fees were used to build public facilities such as a mosque, a church, an office and a preschool.

“Once, a member tried to resell his land to other people. Muslim reacted strongly by banishing him,” said Guntur.

Disputed land

SMB members interviewed by the Post did not know the total area of land controlled by the union. Information about membership was also inconsistent. While the members claimed there were 6,000 members, National Police Public Information Unit chief Sr. Comr. Asep Adi Saputra said that about 1,000 people occupied the area. Asep said the land belonged to the company WKS and was usurped by the SMB.

Another source, Aditiya Nugraha of the People’s Alliance for Forest and Land (Amphal) Jambi Province said that the land, 3,124 hectares in Mersam district, was a “people’s plantation forest” (HTR). He said President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo granted the HTR status in 2018 to cooperative KASS as the legal caretaker of the HTR.

Data from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Jambi holds that a total of 40,000 hectares of land in Jambi were disputed because of overlapping claims.

“Most cases occurred in Tebo regency, where 30 percent of all land disputes occurred,” said Walhi Jambi director
Rudiansyah.

‘Breaking the ancestral line’

Not all residents of Batanghari were happy with how the SMB and Muslim controlled the land. They wanted to cultivate it as well, and they used a cooperative, KASS, to gain access.

That is where the conflict started. The elders in Belanti Jaya village and other villages called it “memecah guguk [breaking the ancestral line]”.

After the conflict erupted, some families stopped greeting each other.

“We all come from the womb. This condition breaks us apart,” said Pak Ngah, a Sengkati Baru villager.

Tensions between SMB and KASS members flared in October of last year. KASS members, led by Sengkati Baru village chief Hendriyanto, visited the disputed area riding two trucks. SMB members intercepted and assaulted them. “They hit me,” Hendriyanto said.

Era Purnamasari, a lawyer for the SMB from YLBHI, questioned the need for the authority to clear the land cultivated by the SMB. If the allegation was assault, why were they also being evicted and the farms demolished, she asked.

The action, she said, showed that the main goal was to acquire the SMB’s land.

WKS spokesperson, Taufikurahman, said they were trusting the legal system to pursue the case because it was related to “investment security”. “We hope that the perpetrators, who are now in court, will get sentences in line with the law,” he said. (mpr/evi)

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