Klinik Farma – National Environment Forum (Wali) director Zenzi Suhadi called on Listye national police chief Sigita Prabowo to withdraw all police officers still stationed on Rempang Island, Batam, Riau Islands.
This is in response to the violence suffered by the people of Rempang Island on September 7, 2023.
“Today we ask the national police chief to withdraw all police officers from Rempang and Galang,” Zenzi said at a press conference at the Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (Dec 9, 2023).
According to Zenzi, the police presence there actually created fear and anxiety among the population. On the other hand, according to Zenzi, people on the islands of Rempang and Galang were already living peacefully before the police started monitoring them.
Read also:Dozens of students became victims, suffering Residents of Rempang Batam: police fired tear gas at schools
“The atmosphere of chaos arose because the police came there, they withdrew their troops and demolished all the posts there,” Zenzi explained.
For information, on September 7, 2023, a clash occurred between the residents of Rempang Island, who rejected the National Strategic Project (PSN) Rempang Eco City, and the police.
This conflict began with plans to resettle the residents of Rempang, Galang and Galang Baru Islands in order to develop investment on Rempang Island into an integrated industrial, commercial and tourism zone.
The project, implemented by PT Makmur Elok Graha (MEG) and BP Batam, aims to attract large investments that will use land measuring 7,572 hectares, or about 45.89 percent of Rempang Island’s total area of 16,500 hectares.
It is reported that the joint equipment penetrated into the residents’ residential area. Meanwhile, residents chose to survive and rejected the installation of land stakes as a step toward relocation.
Residents who refused were eventually forced back using tear gas and violent methods. It is reported that a total of 6 residents were arrested following this incident.
