IPB University Experts Find Unbalanced Information on Agrarian Conflict and the Fate of Rempang Residents

The Rempang Ecocity National Strategic Project (PSN) has triggered complex and protracted agrarian conflicts. The government has offered relocation and compensation. However, there is no legal document that guarantees this certainty.

This was revealed by Dr Rina Mardiana, Advisory Board of IPB University’s Center for Agrarian Studies in the online discussion ‘The Loud Voice of the Rempang Community’ facilitated by the Indonesian Caucus for Academic Freedom (KIKA) online via YouTube, Friday (21/6).

According to her, the Rempang community still feels unsafe, marginalized, and even threatened by the future of their lives. This conflict is exacerbated by regulations that do not consider the protection of old villages and indigenous peoples.

“Although the government issued regulations to support this project, such as Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 78 of 2023, its implementation in the field is not in accordance with the principles of social justice and community participation,” said the lecturer at the Faculty of Human Ecology, IPB University.

Dr Rina, who has interacted with Rempang residents, sees different facts in the field about relocation claims with beautiful promises. She found that the relocation houses have not been built at all.

Seeing this fact, in her presentation she raised three points against the uncertainty and injustice of the relocation that occurred. First, Rempang fishermen rejected the relocation because they were worried about losing their livelihoods and damaging the marine ecosystem. “The government is considered not transparent in planning and communicating the project, which causes this uncertainty,” she said.

Second, she continued, the construction of the glass factory and the new city is expected to cause negative impacts on the marine ecosystem and force fishermen to fish further away. Thirdly, there has been consistent opposition from the Rempang community because they are threatened with losing their ancestral land.

She also took the initiative to collect various mass media articles and videos on various social media and found different things from the facts on the ground. Dr Rina said that the 3,000 news articles from various media and all releases issued by the Batam Concession Agency (BP) were imbalanced.

“So the news about this project is dominated by the official release of BP Batam which emphasizes the potential economic benefits without adequately describing the situation on the ground,” she explained. This release then became the only source of information quoted and referred to by various mainstream media.

“Meanwhile, the Malay community of Rempang, the majority of whom are fishermen, face the threat of eviction without adequate dialogue, difficult internet, and face the fear of losing their land, livelihoods, as well as their identity and culture, are not widely covered by the mainstream media,” she said.

This situation, according to her, creates an imbalance of information that can worsen trust in the government and the state in guaranteeing the rights of its citizens. The agrarian conflicts that occur are increasingly massive, systemic and structural.

In addition, Dr Rina said that some residents who have accepted relocation feel disappointed because there is no guarantee of a decent life in the new place. As a result, residents are forced to stay in their original villages amid the threat of eviction.

“The claim that many residents are willing to be relocated also needs to be re-examined, are they the original residents of Rempang or residents of small islands around Rempang or residents who were forced to relocate? Because, there are many facts from the investigation that show data and administrative manipulation related to the number of residents claimed by BP Batam to be willing to be relocated,” she said.

She continued, the Rempang Ecocity project shows the characteristics of land grabbing. According to her, there are violations of human rights, there is no availability of free and sufficient information from affected communities. In addition, the project also ignores social, economic and environmental impacts.

“I plead with the government to hear Rempang’s voice. Openness and transparency are needed and to ensure restoration for affected communities,” she concluded. (MW/Rz) (IAAS/Ha p)