Church joins escalating mining fight in Flores

The priests vowed this week to continue fighting on behalf of indigenous farmers locked in an ongoing land dispute in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, in spite of an apparent escalation by police.

The community has been battling local authorities since 2009, when a mining permit was issued without consultation to PT Aditya Bumi Pertambangan. East Manggarai district head Yosef Tote signed off on a manganese-mining license covering 2,222 hectares of land in Satar Punda village; ten hectares of which encroached on the village’s communal land, or ulayat.

“We have made several efforts, including visiting the district head’s office to talk about the issue with him. However, he never wants to talk with us,” Father Simon Suban Tukan, coordinator of the Divine Word’s Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) church, told ucanews.com.

The priest led dozens of indigenous people specially farmers  in a protest in the district capital. The group was attempting to halt the company from placing heavy equipment on their communal land. Though peaceful, said Father Simon, police were deployed to violent effect.  “I was dragged by two policemen until I fell down. I was almost unconscious. Luckily, some people took me to a nearby clinic,” he recalled. “I am with them because they are weak before the local authorities and businessmen who are getting support from security personnel. I choose to fight together with the people.”

Since January, Father Simon and community members have increased their activism. Their protest through the district capital yielded no improvement so in June, indigenous people placed barriers on their communal land to prevent the company from conducting mining activities. In retaliation, police arrested 21 people including two teenagers. They were released after an investigation.

Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Ruteng, the capital of Manggarai district, said that he was concerned by the apparent uptick in police harassment. “We, the Catholic Church, reject the violent acts and intimidation faced by indigenous people and Father Simon as well,” said Bishop Hubertus.

The Catholic Church, he said, rejected mining activities that create conflict with indigenous people. “It must not be conducted,” the prelate said. “The environment is the Garden of Eden, which is beautiful, fertile and safe. It promises us a life. God has provided us with the environment. Hence,  we must take care of it and protect it for the sake of our future.”

VIVAT International-Indonesia and an umbrella group of NGOs known as National Solidarity for People in NTT have urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to conduct an investigation over the latest incident.

 According to Edo Rahman from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, the Flores case is far from unique. “Based on the data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, there are more than 10 thousand mining permits but only few have no conflicts. Mainly, the issue is about land grabbing,” he said.