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Indonesia

The violent incident around the area of the operation of UNOCAL occurred on 8 October 2000. At the time, about 60 police broke up the blockade action which was carried out by the local residents on the road to the company. As a result of the police action in breaking up the blockade by force, 23 people were injured. Seven (7) of them were identified as having been shot by firearms. The victims suffered gunshot wounds to the calf, thigh, and head. Besides that, 16 people were identified as seriously injured as a result of being beaten and stamped on by the police.

The blockade action of UNOCAL's transportation lines was carried out by the community because they were frustrated with the company and the government which never took their demands into account or acted on them. According to the local residents, UNOCAL in its operations has caused several negative impacts on their lives. The impacts complained of by the people are, among others: land grabbing, pollution of irrigated rice fields and fish cultivation ponds. They also complain that the sea around the terminal at Tanjung Santan (Cape Santan) is being polluted as a result of UNOCAL's system of waste processing, that is, waste processing in open areas.

Accumulated frustrations were vented by the local citizens in the form of a blockade of UNOCAL's lines of transportation, both on land and at sea. The blockade action, begun on Monday, 25 September 2000, was undertaken by 300 residents of Marangkayu, Terusan and Rapak Lama by turns. Entering the second week, the action was forced to end because of the forced dispersal of the blockade posts by the police. This is the incident which caused 23 people to be the victims of injuries because of shooting or beatings. This is surely a very high price to pay.

About UNOCAL's Operations in East Kalimantan

Only stories remain about the success of the great harvests in Semangkok, Marangkayu district. The pride of the people at the name model farmer which they had achieved has now disappeared. All that is left is dried-up fields and a beach smelling of oil.
The disaster came on with the appearance of the UNOCAL Indonesia Company, a mineral and gas extraction company - whose shares are owned by UNOCAL Group, a giant corporation with its headquarters in California USA. They are engaged in extraction operations at Terminal Tanjung Santan.

Tanjung Santan is UNOCAL's processing and shipping site for oil and gas. Because of this function it has added the word Terminal, so that it becomes Terminal Tanjung Santan. But the people of Rapak Lama, and the area around Marangkayu, know the area better by the name "Kampung Semangkok."

The clearing of the Tanjung Santan or Kampung Semangkok area by UNOCAL started with the signing of the Production Sharing Contract between UNOCAL and Pertamina, as the party representing the government. The contract for the exploitation of oil and natural gas off the coast of East Kalimantan was signed on 28 October 1968.

The terminal was constructed from 1971 to 1972, while the survey and taking over of land from the people took place in 1970. To make the terminal function more effectively some supporting facilities and infrastructures were put into place, such as a Canal 3.5 km. long and 3-5 meters deep, a dock, an airport, storage tanks, offices, a mess and sleeping quarters, a waste processor and sports facilities.

The Origins of Semangkok Village

The word Semangkok derives from a fruit in the shape of a bowl which was found by the people when they opened the forest for farming ground. Later the people formed communities and villages. In 1958 ethnic Bugis immigrants from South Sulawesi first began the opening of the forest. They arrived in sailing boats in several waves of migration, each group with its group leader. The leader of the first group was Bapak Kaseng, then followed by Bapak Muda, H. Ngelo and Suddin.

In the beginning, they lived in shelters in the fields to guard the plants. Over time the area became more crowded with the continuing arrival of new families and people so that it became a perkampungan (more closely settled, centralized type residential arrangement). The cleared forest was planted with coconuts, jackfruit, bananas, pineapple, pepper, and dry-field rice. The increase in population continued and made it difficult to fulfill basic needs because the yield from the dry-field rice sometimes was not enough to last until the next season. To fulfill their basic needs, the people started to clear nearby swampland for conversion into wet-rice fields. Each farmer constructed a shelter in the rice fields as a place to rest, and also a place to guard the rice from pests like birds and pigs.

Well before this, the area around Terminal Tanjung Santan was inhabited by Dayak and Kutai peoples whose location is now known as Marangkayu I (Kutai Village), but previously was known as Gunung Lahang (Lahang Mountain) and Kampung Singagunjang. The position of Marangkayu I village is to the south of Terminal Tanjung Santan. In 1819, Singagunjang Village (Marangkayu I) was settled by ethnic Dayak, who remained until 1972. These Dayak people moved to the Mahakam headwaters area, possibly because they were pressured by newcomers who had started coming from other areas, both from Tenggarong as well as from Sulawesi.
Then in about 1940, ethnic Kutai people began coming from Tenggarong to avoid an attack of Japanese troops. At first there were only 21 families but the number increased. They lived from swidden farming and hunting. They farmed with the hilir balik system (a traditional system in which after a field is used, they move to another location, and after a while, they return to the original field). Aside from this, the Kutai peope lived from hunting, making shingled roofs, and from making ironwood boards. In general these original Kutai in Marangkayu did not cultivate a wide area. The system of cultivation has changed since the arrival of newcomers, who cleared fields with the permission of the original inhabitants by staying in one place and making wet-rice fields. The development of the wet-rice fields was begun in the 1970s by Bugis people.

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