Tens of youths in Duri, Riau seize cars, demanding employment

Tens of youths in the oil town of Duri, Riau seized at least 20 cars owned by contractors of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) as protest against the contractors' lack of commitment to providing jobs to local residents, Riau Pos reported Tuesday.

The daily reported that the youths stopped the cars in front of the Hubbul Wathan Islamic boarding school in Jalan Sudirman, Balaimakan, Duri and parked the cars near the school.

Witnesses said that the number of seized cars reached about 50 but Hamka Riau, the leader of the Islamic school was about 20 cars.

Hamka said that the jobless youths carried out their action as protest against the reluctance of the local companies mostly operating as the contractors of the oil giant to employ them. "There is no incident during the protests, but I am afraid that some people will link the Islamic school with the protest," he said.

He said that he understood why such jobless youths took such action but he had asked them to seek other ways in expressing their protests.

Seizing cars have become a trend for some residents in the oil rich Riau province in expressing their protests. Several groups of youths also made a similar action in the past after their demands to get jobs in the local companies were turned down. (*)