Molo's People Struggle

9.10.2006

Fautlik Chronology - English version

Invitation to Solidarity Support

Again, a Mining Excavator Seizes the People’s Land!
An Account of Events

Location of Events : Fatu Ob / Faut Lik Kuanoel Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district,
South Central Timor District (TTS)

Perpetrators : 1. Employees of PT. Teja Sekawan: 2. Chief of Police North Mollo, Iptu Yahya Selan: 3. Head of Fatumnasi Sub-district, Lamber Oematan, BA: 4. Fatumnasi Village Guidance Officers (babinsa): 5. Civil Servant Staff from TTS District government (TTS Board to Control Impacts on the Environment at the District Level)
Victims : The Anone family and land owners of Kuanoel Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district

On Thursday, 24 August 2006 at about 11.00 in the morning, workers of PT. Teja Sekawan Surabaya, a company that intends to mine the marble rocks, Faut Lik and Fatu Ob in Kuanoel Village, guarded by police, army soldiers, civil servants and thugs paid by the company, unilaterally used an excavator to tear down the fence of the garden owned by Ety Anone and Yustus Tunis. It then forced the opening of a road on the land of Ety Anone, and succeeded in digging up five metres of the land.
Ety Anone herself opposed this action and stubbornly ordered the excavator used by company employees and guarded by security forces to immediately stop its work and leave. About 30 grade school students who had just begun school watched a verbal “war” between company supporters and Ety Anone that lasted for two hours. This ended only when Ety Anone, ready to do anything, climbed up on the front part of the excavator and sat on top of the excavator’s scoop risking death because the workers and security forces accompanying them obviously did not honor her complaints for them to stop the work.
The company and security supports only left the site when it became crowded as more villages arrived on their way home from the Village office where they had been waiting in line since morning to collect their portions of rice for the poor. They too were surprised by what had happened because this forced action had been carefully planned so that the excavator would come when all the villagers were away from the location, especially those whose houses were located around the site.
On Friday, 25 August 2006, a group from the company and security forces supporting them returned to the location with the purpose to continue making the road. They arrived with two men from Lilana Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district, Nikanor Bay and Sius Anone. These two people who were each paid 1 million rupiah (about US$110) by the company to insure their support for building the road on this piece of land were pitted against the group supporting Ety Anone.
This event was clearly intended to divide the people. Sius is a close member of Ety Anone’s family, yet the land in question is clearly owned by Ety Anone. The mining company for some time has tried to pay Ety Anone to release her land to them, but the Anone family (Ety Anone) does not agree so that the company, with assistance from local security forces, sought another way by approaching close members of the family who could be paid and supposedly speak on behalf of the Anone family to release the land to the mining company.
This was clear from the attitude put forward during this event when the pro-company side said to the supporters of Ety Anone, please deal with those who have already been paid because we want to get to work. This attitude got a strong reaction from the villagers, particularly the women, because they felt so disappointed with the behavior of the pro-company group that, note well, was supported by government forces. The company’s arbitrary actions were strongly opposed by the people. Furthermore, one woman, Lodia Oematan, bared her breast and thrust it in the direction of the forces who were there criticizing them. Full of regret she said, “So you’ll know, hopefully you weren’t born and raised on your mother’s milk.”
The group and their security supporters finally dispersed because there were more and more villagers who arrived to protest. The excavator was simply left at the site, in Ety Anone’s garden.
On Saturday, 26 August 2006, the company group and its security forces returned again to the location, but even more villagers came to the site. There was more verbal warfare, and villagers pressured company workers to immediately take away the excavator, but the pro-company group answered with a new promise that they would remove the excavator on Monday, 28 August 2006.
On Monday, 28 August 2006 103 people who have land around the mining site held a meeting with the investor, the head of Fatumnasi Sub-district, seven police and local villagers leaders. In this meeting an employee of PT. Teja Sekawan, Desti Nope, read an official Decree from the District Head that gave the company permission to engage in Class C mining. They also made efforts to convince the villagers to accept the mining. Then they asked the land owners if they wanted to release their land, but all of the land owners said they were not willing to release their land because according to them they own no alternative fields they can farm, while as farmers they hang their hopes of life on the land they own.
Because he did not get support from the land owners, the investor answered emotionally saying the company had already obtained permission from the TTS District government and therefore, although the villagers did not agree to hand over their land, the investor would continue to work. “I have already received permission from the District Head to mine, so although you men do not agree, tomorrow I will continue to work,” said the investor. Hearing the investor’s statement, the villagers immediately attacked with a hale of angry and complaining voices so that the police intervened in the meeting and broke up the crowd.
In this meeting, security forces, through Yahya Selan, also threatened several villagers saying those who did not agree to hand over their land would be processed by the law.
At the time we are sharing this information with you, Sirs/Madams/brothers/sisters, the people around the site are still disturbed because there is constant intervention and intimidation by those under the orders of the company, including security forces. The situation is very susceptible to conflict, both conflict among villagers as well as villagers with security forces and the investor’s group.
The Process of People's Action

29-30 August: People's action at the TTS Parliament
103 heads of households from Fatumnasi Village, accompanied by members of A’Taimamus Organisation (OAT), Timor Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Timor,[1] Center for People’s Information and Advocacy (PIAR)[2] and Forum for People’s Defense (FPR)[3] met with members of the TTS District Parliament who were holding a plenary session. Complaints by the people were one item on the agenda for this meeting so that the people were given an opportunity to explain the chronology of the problem that they call the seizing of the people’s land by perpetrators from the mining industry. After getting an explanation and chronology of the case, members of the TTS District Parliament were willing to do direct observation in the field after their session was over (11 September 2006).
Besides details of the problem that have been written in the chronological account (above), one villager who lives in the area around Fautlik, named Agustinus Luli, has also experienced an act of terror by Yusak Oematan and chief of the sub-district police who threatened that he would be processed by the police. However, according to Luli’s account, he was sought by Yusak and the police to be beaten because he is one of the villagers who intends to contest the selling of the rock by Yusak and his friends.
The problem experienced by Agustinus Luli is certainly part of the problem related to the selling of Fautlik rock along with 50 hectares of land by Yusak Oematan, Lambert Oematan, Nikanor Fau[4] and Yustus Tanu (Yustus is from Tunua Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district). Although they do not own land around Fautlik, these four men have signed a letter selling Fautlik and 50 hectares of land to the mining industry perpetratros, in this case PT Teja Sekawan, who then used the letter as proof of sale and the Decree by the District Head as justification for seizing the land owned by Ety Anone. Meanwhile the 103 household heads that live around Fautlik and work the land around it knew nothing. They were shocked when the land farmed by Ety Anone’s family was ruined by the excavator owned by the company to become an access road to the mining area. These 103 household heads plan to contest the actions of the four men who sold the rock and land because they actually have no rights whatsoever to what they sold. Although these 103 housholed are not supported by land certificates, they nevetheless have worked this land for several generations; these are the only fields off which they live. At the time it was damaged, this land was being farmed with food crops owned by the people.
31 August 2006: Action by women's group who occupy the excavator
PT. Teja Sekawan returned to use the tactic of dividing the people to make space for their efforts. This time the company promised to install electricity for Mama Kase, a widow who lives by herself and who then gave permission for her land to be worked to become the access road for the miners. The land owned by Mama Yosina includes that closest to Fautlik, the rock that is to be mined. This woman’s house is used as a protected place by the miners; if they are approached by the people they will choose to run into Mama Yosina’s house.
Since the people’s action at the TTS District Parliament, the excavator owned by PT Teja Sekawan is still being used for work. The digging of land to make an access road has already ruined land and rocks up to + 10 metres. Not only that, digging by the excavator has ruined a spring of natural spring located by the side of the road.
Seeing this damage, the people decided to carry out a protest action at the mining location. A group of women took the initiative to have a sit-in in front of the excavator to obstruct its path. This women’s group was coordinated by Mrs. Ety Anone (the victim of the land seizure on 25/8/06), Mrs. Lodia and Mrs. Elisabeth Oematan. Ety Anone and Elisabeth Oematan are residents of Kuanoel Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district, and Mrs. Lodia is a resident of Fatumnasi Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district.
5 September 2006: Broadening of Resistance
Clearly, after four days of carrying out their action, the women’s group were still unable to stop the work of PT Teja Sekawan that was ruining the land and rocks because the workers would return to work when the women doing the protest returned to their homes. They took advantage of the women’s faithfulness to their domestic roles as the time to continue their looting!
PT Teja Sekawan workers were stubbornly determined to keep working because they felt supported by the District Head’s Decree that they had read to the people. In fact, as a public document, the District Head’s Decree has never been physically seen, either by the people or by the organizations accompanying them so the truth of whether there is such a Decree by the District Head has not yet been proved.
At this time, the TTS District Head, Drs.Daniel Banunaek, is in Germany so that the people must wait until he returns on 9 September 2006 to confirm the truth of this decree and at the same time request the government to take responsibility for it.
6 September 2006
The attitude of PT Teja Sekawan that is determined to continue making an access road for the mining has given rise to restlessness among the people. Nevertheless they continue to carry out their actions. Today the group of women are demonstrating at the mining site, directly confronting the workers of PT Teja Sekawan.
The company clearly intends to continue intimidating the people and bait their anger, especially the men. However, intimidation, provocation and summons by the police are nothing new to the people of Mollo. Since their land has been pawned [confiscated?] by the district government for the mining industry, they have had their fill with the rotten coalition of the entrepreneur and officials such as this.
At this time the people are focusing their attention on continuing to carry out actions of rejection and making efforts to stop the excavator from working.
Plans for the future
actions by the people at the mining sitecritical discussionsactions by the people and NGOs at the District Parliamentpress conference – to gain support through local-national media coverageupdates regarding the resistance process to be posted online at http://rakyatmollo.blogspot.com
Needed: Solidarity from the Resistance Network! Petition Support
First, you/your organization can help the resistance action of the people of Mollo by signing the petition below and distributing it for the signatures by many other people!
Logistics Support for Resistance Actions
Another form of solidarity you/your organization can provide is in the form of financial support for the logistics of resistance actions by the people of Mollo. At this time, to organize the people, funds are very needed for the costs of communication and transportation whereas the people support themselves by covering consumption costs for participants of protest actions.

Financial support can be sent to the account of The A’Toimamus Organisation (OAT):
Bank BNI 46 Cabang Kupang in the name of Aleta Baun
Account No. 00-44-78-30-91
Accountability for the use of collected funds will be shared in weekly reports online at http://rakyatmollo.blogspot.com
To facilitate accountability, it is hoped financial support for logistic expenses related to resistance actions will be received before 6 October 2006.

For your support for the resistance actions of the people of Mollo, we, as an organisation that works and protests together with the people of Mollo, say thank you.

Peace in the struggle,

Aleta Baun

A’Taimamus Organisation (OAT)
[1] John Ola and Sammy Sanam.
[2] Arifin and Eliaser (only Eliaser attended the meeting with the District Parliament).
[3] FPR is managed by a former member of the TTS District Youth Forum (Forda TTS), a local advocacy group.3[4] This is not a new person for OAT. He confessed he did not know what he signed.