Indonesia: Land theft by a palm oil plantation company threatens the right to food of peasants, Pergulaan Village, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia

Villagers in Pergulaan village have been protesting against a palm oil plantation, for which 3000 persons were forcibly evicted 30 years ago. In April 2004, a massive ditch was dug by a palm oil company around the perimeter of Pergulaan village in order to cut the protesting villagers off. Although peasants living in the village had been given rights to cultivate the land, to which they had also be paying land tax regularly, the land was simply taken away in 1974 without any prior notification nor consultation. Today, the peasants families are forced to rent farmland in neighbouring villages in order to sustain their livelihoods.  

The peasants of Pergulaan village have been fighting for their land for almost 30 years, yet all their efforts till today have been in vain. International action is now called for to support the peasants in their struggle for land –  their only means to feed themselves. Please write a polite letter to the President of Indonesia, requesting her to enforce the peasants’ right to land as their measure to feed themselves.