Mudflow Victims March for Money
Putri Prameshwari
Hundreds of Sidoarjo mudflow victims staged a rally along Jakarta’s main roads on Thursday, demanding the government settle compensation owed to them by PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya.
“We are demanding our rights,” said Abdul Fatah, a field coordinator for the protesters. “And the government must settle this problem.”
Minarak Lapindo Jaya is a subsidiary of PT Lapindo Brantas, which has been blamed for the Sidoarjo mudlfow, and was appointed to pay out land compensation to thousands of displaced people.
Fatah, along with some 150 displaced residents from Sidoarjo, East Java Province, walked from the Presidential Palace to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, about two kilometers south of the palace.
Carrying banners stating their disappointment in the government, the protesters walked, some barefoot, some carrying children on their shoulders, while yelling for the president to take responsibility.
“We will stay here [in the city] until President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agrees to help us settle the problem with Lapindo,” Fatah said.
Hot, toxic mud began to flow from an earth fissure close to a gas exploration drilling well operated by PT Lapindo Brantas in May 2006. The company, owned by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, the government’s chief welfare minister, has been blamed by experts for the disaster, which has left thousands homeless.
Wiwik, a Sidoarjo resident, said she and her friends had arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday. The women, she said, had spent the night at the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras.
“The men are staying at the National Commission for Human Rights office,” Wiwik said.
Fatah said 300 other displaced Sidoarjo residents would arrive in Jakarta on Friday, and they would stage another rally.
“We will not stop until we see a commitment from Yudhoyono to settle the compensation,” he said.
This month, Minarak Lapindo Jaya’s vice president Andi Darussalam said the company had transferred the first installment of Rp 15 million ($1,245) to each of the 6,006 victims’ bank accounts. Andi also claimed Rp 100 billion had been transferred to a government bank account to be paid out to the victims.
The company had agreed to pay Rp 30 million in monthly installments to more than 6,000 family victims in a meeting facilitated by Yudhoyono in December. But in February, the company said it was only capable of paying the victims in monthly installments of Rp 15 million per family, citing financial difficulties.
Mudflow Victims March for Money
Putri Prameshwari
Hundreds of Sidoarjo mudflow victims staged a rally along Jakarta’s main roads on Thursday, demanding the government settle compensation owed to them by PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya.
“We are demanding our rights,” said Abdul Fatah, a field coordinator for the protesters. “And the government must settle this problem.”
Minarak Lapindo Jaya is a subsidiary of PT Lapindo Brantas, which has been blamed for the Sidoarjo mudlfow, and was appointed to pay out land compensation to thousands of displaced people.
Fatah, along with some 150 displaced residents from Sidoarjo, East Java Province, walked from the Presidential Palace to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, about two kilometers south of the palace.
Carrying banners stating their disappointment in the government, the protesters walked, some barefoot, some carrying children on their shoulders, while yelling for the president to take responsibility.
“We will stay here [in the city] until President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agrees to help us settle the problem with Lapindo,” Fatah said.
Hot, toxic mud began to flow from an earth fissure close to a gas exploration drilling well operated by PT Lapindo Brantas in May 2006. The company, owned by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, the government’s chief welfare minister, has been blamed by experts for the disaster, which has left thousands homeless.
Wiwik, a Sidoarjo resident, said she and her friends had arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday. The women, she said, had spent the night at the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras.
“The men are staying at the National Commission for Human Rights office,” Wiwik said.
Fatah said 300 other displaced Sidoarjo residents would arrive in Jakarta on Friday, and they would stage another rally.
“We will not stop until we see a commitment from Yudhoyono to settle the compensation,” he said.
This month, Minarak Lapindo Jaya’s vice president Andi Darussalam said the company had transferred the first installment of Rp 15 million ($1,245) to each of the 6,006 victims’ bank accounts. Andi also claimed Rp 100 billion had been transferred to a government bank account to be paid out to the victims.
The company had agreed to pay Rp 30 million in monthly installments to more than 6,000 family victims in a meeting facilitated by Yudhoyono in December. But in February, the company said it was only capable of paying the victims in monthly installments of Rp 15 million per family, citing financial difficulties.