The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) condemned the Indonesian police force’s crackdown on Sakai indigenous activists. The indigenous Sakai people, who are in Siak Regency, Riau province, are resisting the seizure of their ancestral lands and construction of projects on these lands.

The report of Aliansi Gerakan Reforma Agraria (AGRA or Agrarian Reform Movement Alliance), a group of farmers in Indonesia, said the police on July 10 summoned Hermansya, a Sakai activist, and other members, to undergo investigation for their stand against the project by developer CV Budi Santosa.

The Sakai opposes the project by virtue of their right to ancestral land. They base it on the traditional law of ethnic minorities in accordance with the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia and the laws and regulations under it. They assert their the right to object to the project in accordance with the International Labor Organization Convention 169 which emphasizes the Right to Self-Determination of Indigenous Citizens in their own ancestral lands.

IPMSDL and APC, in support of the Sakai community and AGRA, called for a halt to all forms of legal maneuvers such as police investigations against the indigenous peoples. The only purpose of these investigations is clearly to intimidate and discourage the community from asserting their rights to their land.

Apart from the Sakai’s experience, IMPSDL shared that Indonesian indigenous people, particularly the Riau people, face many other similar cases. Half of the oil palm plantations in this province are operating illegally and are grabbing the indigenous people’s land and commits outright violence against them.

“We call on all our indigenous brothers, indigenous rights advocates and land defenders to denounce all forms of harassment and intimidation against Sakai indigenous leaders in Riau,” Beverly Longid, indigenous leader in Cordillera and Jiten Yumnam, convenors of IPMSDL said.

Meanwhile, Sakai natives staged a protest on June 10 to condemn the repression and to express their opposition to the project.