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.
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.