Sakai residents illegally occupy Caltex property
Tuesday, January 16 2001 - 03:30 AM WIB
Tens of Sakai residents, the ingenious ethnic group in Riau province, have illegally occupied some areas of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in West Dumai in a protest against the company's refusal to pay compensation to their land, Riau Pos reported.
"We are just demanding Caltex to pay compensation for the land which has been taken by the company for so long," one of protesters said.
The Sakai people have been given promise by the oil giant to get a compensation for their land but according to the protesters the promise that had been made a long time ago had never been realized
The local officials immediately arranged a meting between the Caltex executives and the Sakai residents after the protesters started to force the operators of oil exploration facilities to abandon their equipment. In the meeting, the municipal administration of Dumai agreed to become a mediator to negotiate the compensation payment to the residents.
The residents said that the payment of the compensation should be made before the end of this month. (*)