Indonesian police charge priest with public order offenses
Father Heri Sitohango faces up to seven years in jail for allegedly inciting protests against a palm oil company
Police in Kutai Timur district, East Kalimantan, arrest three men from the Dayak community in Long Bentuq following a protest against a palm oil company in the village. (Photo supplied)
Police in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province have charged a Catholic priest with a public order offense in what he says is a move to silence him.
Divine Word Father Heri Sitohango of St. Paul Parish in Long Bentuq in Samarinda Archdiocese was questioned by Kutai Timur district police for 10 hours on March 1 before being charged for his alleged involvement in a protest by an indigenous group against a palm oil company. He was later released on bail.
Indonesian govt urged to resolve mounting agrarian conflicts
Report says at least 1,000 disputes were triggered by the presence of palm oil firms
A farmer harvests fresh palm oil fruit at his plantation in Riau, Sumatra island, in this 2018 file photo. (Photo supplied by Palm Oil Farmers Union)
Environmentalists in Indonesia have called on the government to try and settle more than 1,000 disputes triggered by the presence of palm oil plantations, including agrarian ones between indigenous people and palm oil companies across the country.
They said the situation is threatening to spiral out of control
In its annual report issued on Feb 17, Sawit Watch Indonesia said there were at least 1,061 disputes involving plantations last year. The disputes included forest destruction, human rights violations, agrarian disputes and burning.
Indigenous Indonesians mount palm oil blockade
Dayak community in East Kalimantan demands $1 million in compensation for stolen lands and livelihoods
Indigenous people man a picket line blockading the Subur Abadi Wana Agung palm oil plantation in Long Bentuq in East Kalimantan’s Kuntai Timur district. (Photo supplied)
An indigenous community in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province has launched a campaign seeking more than US1 million in compensation from a palm oil company by blockading its plantation.
Members of the Dayak indigenous group from Long Bentuq in Kutai Timur district have sealed off the entrance and exit to the plantation owned by Subur Abadi Wana Agung, a subsidiary of Tri Putra Group, for more than a week now.