Caltex finally agrees to employ protesting residents

Protests against the operation of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) on the Ranggau River village in the Rokan Hilir agency, Pekanbaru has ended after the oil giant agreed to meet the villagers' demand to employ 75 of them, Media Indonesia reported on Saturday.

The regent of the Rokan Hilir regency, Thamrin Hasyim, said on Friday that the protests had been settled and some of the residents had been employed at the oil giant's contractors in the area.

He said that the agreement was made at a meeting between the oil company's management and the villagers' leaders on Friday. During the meeting, which was attended by the local senior government officials the residents agreed to end their protests. Caltex, in return, also agreed to provide them with jobs through its contractors.

Villagers seeking jobs began their protests early this month. The protests have become uncontrollable after the residents took the oil company's production facilities including vehicles as hostages, causing a halt in some of the company's production units.

Thamrin said that all the vehicles seized by the villagers had been surrendered to the company's management following the agreement. (*)