Walhi Jambi Accompanied Residents Of Mekar Sari Village Demand Justice For Land Controlled By Entrepreneurs

One form of land conflict in Jambi Province. (ANTARA/Wahdi Septiawan)

Jambi's Forum for the Environment (Walhi) accompanied residents of Mekar Sari Village, Muara Sebo Ulu District, Batanghari Regency, Jambi who demanded justice for the seizure of 108 hectares of land which is now controlled by a local entrepreneur. Director of Ekekutif Walhi Jambi Abdullah said that his party is currently collecting complete data on the case of land control of Mekar Sari Village residents in Batanghari Regency which has occurred since 2013 and until now there has been no clarity on the land conflict. "For this reason, we from Walhi will assist residents to get their rights back, either through legal channels or others, so that residents can calmly and comfortably carry out their daily activities on the conflict," he said in Jambi, Antara, Monday, January 29. Until now, the people of Mekar Sari Village are still losing their rights, even though they have full rights to the land area as evidenced by the official certificate given by the government, but the community only physically controls the yard area of 0.25 Ha and the rest until now cannot be controlled by the community. The public has resisted and complained about this conflict to local government agencies, namely the Batanghari Regency Integrated Team (Timdu), Batanghari Police, Jambi Police, Jambi Governor, to the Ministry of ATR BPN and the Ministry of Transmigration in Jakarta, but until now there has also been no clarity. The public considers the government to have failed in the conflict resolution process, therefore the people of Mekar Sari Village will file a lawsuit legally against Junaidi who has carried out evictions, threats, destruction of the Mekar Sari Village community. The first lawsuit will be carried out by 14 representatives of the Mekar Sari community in January 2024 with an area of 10.5 hectares and until then will be forwarded by other Mekar Sari people who have mandated to Walhi Jambi. Long live kindness against the land mafia and realize ecological justice. In 2004, Jambi Governor H Zulkifli Nurdin carried out land reserves for the construction of New Transmigration (PTB) with Letter Number 159 of 2004. The contents of the Governor's decision were to provide land reserves covering an area of 5,500 Ha for the construction site for New Transmigration settlements in Tebing Tinggi Village, Padang Kelapo, Olak Kemang and Sungai Lingkar. In 2005, the first placement of transmigration people in Mekar Sari Village began, then carried out a expansion from the Induk Village of Tebing Tinggi Village to a definitive village in 2010, in Maro Sebo Ulu District, Batanghari Regency. Initially there was no conflict in Mekar Sari Village until 2011, certificates were given to the public for the LU I (Effortary I) area. Mekar Sari community began planting the land and it was used as a rice field area (Payo Lebar) and some were planted with oil palm plantations.

Areal Lahan Usaha I yang berada di Desa Mekar Sari, Kecamatan Maro Sebo Ulu, Kabupaten Batanghari ini seluas 108 Ha pada 2013 digusur oleh pengusaha lokal bernama Junaidi dengan membuki burung untuk melakukan pengantimimasi kepada masyarakat Desa Mekar Sari dan tidak ada santumat rugi dari pengusaha yang juga belum dapat dihubungi untuk konfirmasi.