Sakai residents occupy one of Caltex office in Riau

Hundreds of Sakai and Bonai residents, the original inhabitants of the Riau province, continued occupied the office of PT Caltex Pasific Indonesia (CPI) in Rangau Sementara of the Bengkalis regency after the oil giant refused to pay the compensation for the oil spill on their land.

Riau Pos also reported that the residents also blocked hundreds of the Caltex vehicles from entering the company's production unit in the area.

Syafaruddin, a youth leader of the Sakai Bonai, said that the people's protests were triggered by the lack of the company's attention to the residents. He cited that the oil giant has operated a clean water plant in the village but no single glass of the water is given to them.

He said that the company's crude pipeline passing the village has leaked for years, destroying the villager's plantations but the company has never tried to mend it and it instead denied the existence of the village.

Many villagers have applied to work as a security guard (Satpam) and to work as hard labor in the company's operation but they were rejected. The company instead hired the outsiders to fill such kinds of jobs.

Caltex management, however, rejected the accusation, especially related to the leakage of the crude oil pipeline. (*)