A company managed by a diocese in Indonesia's Flores Island violently evicted Indigenous families from their land, destroying homes and crops. The incident sparked outrage and accusations of violence and disregard for human rights.
Indigenous people in Indonesia's Christian-majority Flores Island have accused a diocese of promoting violence after a company it managed demolished the homes of some Indigenous people, aiming to evict some 200 people from a disputed land area. The company, PT. Perkebunan Kelapa Diag, demolished 50 homes and crops on farmland belonging to the Soge Natarmage and Goban Runut-Tana indigenous communities in Nangahale, Sikka Regency on January 22nd.
UCA News obtained images that show police and paramilitary soldiers guarding heavy equipment, including an excavator, used for the eviction drive. Video images also showed a group of hired workers destroying the homes, ignoring indigenous people’s protests. Several Indigenous women were seen sitting on the heavy equipment and protesting, crying and screaming, and stuffing soil into their mouths as an expression of extreme desperation. The eviction move came amid an ongoing court trial of eight Indigenous people who were arrested by the police last year for allegedly destroying the company's assets. Antonius Toni, a Goban tribe member, said that he was at the Sikka District court accompanying eight residents when he heard that his house was destroyed and his wife was injured by falling debris. He said his wife and several other residents were at home when a group of people came, forced their way in, and drove an excavator through the yard. His wife was hospitalized. After Indonesia's independence, the land was handed over to the government through a limited liability company, PT. Perkebunan Kelapa Diag. Maumere Diocese began to own it after it was established in 2005. The diocesan company’s land permit expired in 2013, and Indigenous people living on and cultivating the land attempted to claim it.The Agrarian Reform Consortium (ARC), an alliance of 92 indigenous advocacy and community organizations, in a January 23rd statement slammed the company’s actions as “brutal, barbaric and inhumane.” Some 200 evicted people are now forced to spend the night in the ruins of their homes, the statement said, adding that eviction, despite the ongoing court case, is “a form of arrogance” on the part of the company. “This step is truly ironic,” considering that such an action comes from a diocese supposed to “protect the community and prioritize the values of justice and humanity,” the groups said. The groups also criticized the government for “ignoring the agrarian crimes” committed by the company. Maximilianus Herson Loi, executive chairman of the Flores branch of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, said, “The clergy should protect their people from the threat of eviction and criminalization.” Loi also criticized the security forces who acted as protectors and guardians of the company. “Is it because the Indigenous Peoples do not have money that they do not deserve to be protected?” Herson asked. In 2024, at least 111 cases of agrarian conflicts due to plantation concessions of indigenous communities, according to the ARC. Plantation conflicts have always been the highest contributor to agrarian conflicts, with 1,242 agrarian conflicts recorded in the last decade, the group said. “This indicates that there are fundamental and acute problems related to the issuance, extension and renewal of land use rights in Indonesia,” the ARC said
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LAND RIGHTS EVICTION VIOLENCE INDONESIA DIOCESE AGRARIAN CONFLICTS
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