In a sunny afternoon, villagers in Gading Permai were ready to meet with the management of RAPP to discuss the outstanding land disputes that have been going on for long. The villagers were panic and angry when the time arrived because they were faced with 300 armed private militarists instead of a peaceful talk with the company officials. Read the following article to find out what happen to the villagers.
Feeling surprise? Don’t be. This is actually a very common practice of Sukanto’s entities.
RAPP Land Disputes
“the management of PT RAPP agreed to meet the Gading Permai community on May 1, 2006. However, instead of sending company officials to attend the meeting, PT RAPP mobilized 300 people in black uniforms to attack, destroy and burn down the people’s houses.”
“The attack was well planned, considering that RAPP had arranged an ambulance to be present, to assist victims of the violence. This attack follows a similar incident on November 3, 2005, when the management of RAPP mobilized 500 people to conduct attacks on the people of Desa Koto Baru, Singingi Hilir Sub District, at the Kuansing Regency.”
– PT RAPP Commits More Corporate Crime. Eyes on the Forest. 12th May, 2006
“The violence and vandalism by PT Riau Andalan Pulp Paper (PT RAPP) via its security guards took some tolls. The guards turned violent and destroyed the property of the villagers – houses, vehicles and even religious buildings. The violence did not end yet. Some villagers were taken hostage and knocked down by the company’s cars, inducing a deep psychological trauma to the others, who ran away for their lives.”
– Violent and Anti-Human Acts of PT Riau Andalan Pulp Paper. APRIL Watch. 16th May, 2006
“APRIL should be responsible before the law as they provoked the riot first by preparing its 500 employees and security guards armed with machetes, and heavy machinery such as skidder to ambush and assault the residents, the joint statement said.”
– NGOs blast APRIL for violence. Eyes on the Forest. Mar 16th, 2012
“Three fatalities, 16 wounded and seven imprisoned – this is the sad state of Tangun, a village in Sumatra. Its inhabitants have been fighting for 1000 hectares of agricultural land which was blatantly taken over by an APRIL subsidiary (Asian Pacific Resources International Limited). In response to the villagers’ resistance, the company had some villagers taken hostage by its security guards on 28 May 2009. Since the villagers were not prepared to accept such acts of intimidation, a conflict erupted the very same day, in which three people died and several were wounded. The APRIL Group claims these people died in an accident. The national Indonesian human rights commission does not believe in APRIL’s claim. According to Dede Kunaifi and other Indonesian environmentalists there is plenty of evidence that the villagers were killed.”
– Paper Industry Uses Violence and Destroys Tropical Forests in Indonesia. APRIL Watch. Aug 8th, 2009
Pulau Padang Land Disputes
“Standing in front of the Parliament’s House building in the capital of Jakarta, members of the Communication Forum to Save Padang Island demanded that the government take back a permit it had issued for a paper company to clean out their forest, the Jakarta Globe reports.”
“Indonesia has the world’s third-largest forest area, and one of the world’s fastest rates of deforestation.”
– Elizabeth Flock. Indonesians Sew Mouths Shut in Protest Over Deforestation. The Washington Post. 3rd Jan 2012
“Protesters from Padang Island in Riau province sew their mouths to protest the environmental destruction caused by the logging activities of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP). The protesters, who camped outside the House of Representatives building, called on the Riau government to revoke the operating permit for the company.”
“This has been the case with residents of flood-prone Pulau Padang, a small island in Riau province. They have been facing environmental woes since the local administration gave a multinational timber company a license to exploit peat land forests in their area.”
– Elly Burhaini Faizal. Govt Told to Revoke Concession Permit. The Jakarta Post. Jan 6th, 2012
Just when you think Sukanto can only conduct illegal practices in Indonesia where he has deep connection with the government and will learn to respect the regulations in foreign countries, you got it wrong. One of his company, Bahia Pulp S.A. in Brazil was sued for invading workers’ rights and causing environmental problems.
Bahia Pulp S.A.
“the environmental pollution emitted by solid particles from the pulp mill chimneys, added to the intermittent dust from the boilers that give off lime dust and heat, affect the workers”
“non-compliance with workers rights, guaranteed in the CLT (Consolidation of Workers Laws), such as non-payment of additional salary of unhealthy and dangerous activities, excessive working days, etc. This is currently being questioned through the courts by the trade union Sindicelpa (Trade Union of Workers in the Pulp and Paper Industry)”
“These problems given an indication of the large range of uncertainties, fear and violence present in the studied region, affected by Bahia Pulp. Moreover, the peasants and small landowners in the region suffer from regular difficulties because of serious drought and lack of infra-structure in order to guarantee food security, both in the rural as well as in the urban areas.”
– Ivonete Gonçalves de Souza and João Luiz Monti. Bahia Pulp S.A. (Brazil). Pulp Inc. 14th May, 2007
This is Sukanto’s standard business practice. The local residents are always the first ones to suffer the direct impacts of stolen lands, pollutions, bribery and social injustice. They are forced to take extreme steps to protest for their loss because they are not able to get justice through proper legal proceedings where the companies can have an influence on. However, until today, their concerns are still not being addressed.
When Sukanto step into a place, there is no more transparency and the place became a sad state. Officials and representatives were bribed. All of the residents became sacrifice. Environments were ruined and can never be recovered. All the prosperity is only for himself.
I understand the villagers’ pain. It is the feeling that people can take away everything you have without consequences and can continue to intimidate you as long as they want.
Sukanto is very good at covering his track records, and it is hard for foreigners to find out his conducts in his homeland but if you take a look at the current condition of Riau you would not believe how a corrupted business practice can impact the world. There were people injured, killed and taken hostage by Sukanto’s employees, lands being stolen, houses and properties being destroyed, environments were ruined and can never be recovered again.
If the above cases do not demonstrate a threat to Canadians, then what does?
Indonesians are now struggling to stop Sukanto’s crimes and to chase him out of the country. Inviting someone like him to invest is like inviting trouble to your country.
Petitions
– by Richard Ameri
– by Elijah D.
Hi Wendy
Thank you so much for sharing this. I found this news article when I was trying to know more about LNG
http://www.squamishreporter.com/2014/08/16/john-westons-strange-scoldings/#comment-16236
I think Canadians need to know more about the owner of Woodfibre LNG.