Human Rights Watch today condemned the February 8 arrest of Endang Suparmono, which took place shortly after a meeting with Sidney Jones, the Asia Director for Human Rights Watch. The arrest took place outside the office of the Legal Aid Institute in Palembang, South Sumatra.
Mr Endang came to meet me to describe the human rights violations that shrimp farmers employed by the Wachyuni Mandira Company experienced. It is utterly outrageous that he should be arrested under these circumstances, and we are seeking his immediate release," said Jones.
Endang helped organize shrimp farmers from the village of Bumi Pratama Mandira in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI), South Sumatra. In September 1998, under his leadership, shrimp farmers, who took out large loans under company auspices on the promise that they would eventually own their own shrimp farms, began to demand to know the status of their indebtedness and the terms of repayment. The company had never provided information on either, according to the farmers. Endang also successfully led the fight for a higher living stipend for all the shrimp farmers working under contract to the company.
On November 15, 1998, after almost two months of protests, a riot broke out at the company that ended in hundreds of farmers wrecking company property. The man who has publicly acknowledged responsibility for setting the fire that started the riot was never arrested and is now reported to be working as a company employee. Local police put a price on Endang's head as the organizer of the protests, but to Human Rights Watch's knowledge, there is no evidence that he had anything to do with the violence that erupted. More than 600 farmers, many of whom were not involved in the riot, were forced to sign letters of resignation in the weeks that followed; some forty were arrested and are facing charges of arson and destruction of property.
Endang was arrested in the late afternoon on Monday about one hundred meters from the office of the Legal Aid Institute in Palembang by three policemen who had been watching the office since morning, according to another shrimp farmer. An arrest warrant for Endang was delivered to the Legal Aid Institute office shortly after he was taken into custody. It was not immediately clear where he was being detained.
