Caltex challenges locals to settle land dispute in court
Saturday, February 10 2001 - 04:30 AM WIB
Again, PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia has challenged local residents to take a legal action if they reject to settle their claim over the ownership of land now occupied by the oil giant through negotiations, Riau Post reported on Saturday.
Caltex's manager for public affairs support operation, Iwan Toffani Ilyas said in the oil giant's office in Rumbai on Friday that the company still preferred to settling the dispute through negotiations because only through a negotiation the disputing parties could get a maximum result.
He also criticized the action of a group of Sakai people such as blocking access roads to the company's oil operations in their efforts to pressure Caltex to meet their demand.
About 75 Sakai people, the ingenious ethnic group in Riau province, have demanded Caltex to pay compensation for about 100 hectares of land now used by the company as part of its operation.
But Caltex refused to fully meet their demand because it said it had settled the payment in 1956 during the early years of the company's activities in the province.(*)