- Gustina Salim Rambe, a mother from North Sumatra province, was sentenced in October to more than five months in prison following a demonstration against a palm oil factory built adjacent to two schools in Pulo Padang village.
- Representatives in Indonesia’s national Parliament had urged police to apply principles of “restorative justice” rather than criminalize Gustina.
- Civil society advocates pointed to separate regulations and laws that should protect from prosecution people who speak out against alleged environmental abuses.
- From 2019-24, Amnesty International recorded similar cases affecting 454 civil society advocate in Indonesia.
Gustina Salim Rambe appeared quietly distraught as a court on Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra sentenced her to more than five months in prison for speaking out against the environmental damage caused by a nearby palm oil mill.
Gustina’s husband, Sahrul Siregar, said the mill operated by PT Pulo Padang Sawit Permai (PPSP) in Pulo Padang village, Labuhan Batu district, had previously suspended work following direct local actions to block trucks carrying supplies. However, the plant later resumed operations, blanketing adjacent residential areas and two schools with air pollution.
Gustina’s attorney, M. Yani Rambe, explained that his client was arrested by Labuhan Batu police on May 20 during a demonstration to oppose the factory reopening, and that she was subsequently charged for her part in obstructing vehicle access to the factory.
Gustina’s arrest garnered widespread attention in Indonesia as a video of her behind bars consoling her young daughter spread across social and national media. The 3-year-old toddler reached out to her mother from the other side of the remand cell as Gustina fixed her daughter’s hair.
The video of Gustina consoling her daughter from a jail cell spread across Indonesian social and national media. Video courtesy of rina.senjaa1 via Instagram.
Local people said the some 400 children attending the Harisma Private Elementary Madrasah, known as MIS Harisma, had been inhaling smoke every day emitted by the chimney at the factory, which is right next door.
“The factory wasn’t put up with any distance from residential areas,” Sahrul said. “MIS Harisma is only a wall away.”
Two local schools are located just 100 meters (328 feet) and 160 meters (525 feet) from the factory. Both are private Islamic schools.
“There is a reason Tina and the residents rejected it,” said Yani Rambe, the lawyer. “It’s because they are worried about environmental pollution — that factory is in a residential area.”
Factory outlet
The Labuhan Batu palm oil factory case stands out as a rare instance of a criminal case against an environmental activist, of which there are many in Indonesia, cutting through to national attention, even reaching members of Parliament.
“Law enforcement officers should be using a restorative justice approach to resolve social problems between the community and companies,” Pangeran Khairul Saleh, the deputy chair of Commission III in Indonesia’s Parliament, which oversees home affairs, said in a statement in September.
In the statement, the commission noted that the palm oil factory was located close to a school, and that the resident population had objected to the noise and pollution since 2017.
Pangeran, an elected national representative from South Kalimantan province, intensified Parliament’s intervention in a police matter by referring to rules enacted by Indonesia’s attorney general in 2020.
Article 2 of that attorney general regulation states that “restorative justice,” essentially a form of mediation, can be applied in the event that doing so is in the public interest, proportionate to the alleged offense and commensurate with the principle that criminal justice should be applied as a last resort.
“Ms. Tina Rambe has the right to get restorative justice and also a suspension of detention, because she has a small child,” Pangeran said. “Law enforcers must take this into consideration.”
However, the presiding judge in the case sentenced Gustina to five months and 21 days in prison.
Delima Silalahi, director of the Community Initiatives Study and Development Group (KSPPM), a civil society organization, said Tina should be protected from any prosecution, as her actions were a form of environmental advocacy.
The protest was lawful, aimed at opposing a factory built near residential areas without the company’s compliance with free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), she explained.
Delima, who won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2023, added that the company had failed to attend to the conventional norm of padiatapa, a form of consent and mediation applied according to cultural tradition in northern Sumatra.
Community policing
Rianda Purba, head of the North Sumatra province office of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a national civil society group, added that Article 66 of Indonesia’s 2009 Environment Law precludes criminal prosecution or civil proceedings for anyone advocating for the constitutional right to a clean environment.
Moreover, Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry in August this year enacted a new regulation, (Permen) No. 10/2024, clarifying legal protection for people who fight for the right to a good and healthy environment, a principle protected under Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution.
“What Tina Rambe and other residents were doing was an effort to protect their environment,” Rianda said.
Separately, Walhi North Sumatra says the PPSP palm oil factory was illegally constructed in an area not zoned for industrial activities, in violation of the district spatial plan.
“This also shows the weakness of law enforcement and environmental audits by the government,” Rianda said.
Rianda added that citizens and local advocates frequently confront questionable criminal charges, perhaps to weaken the resolve of those who advocate at the local level.
“Those who fight for the environment actually receive threats, intimidation and attempts to weaken them with criminal sanctions,” he said.
“Tina’s arrest and prosecution was a form of criminalization that is baseless and violates justice.”
During former President Joko Widodo’s second five-year term in office, which ended in October, Amnesty International documented 454 cases of attacks against 1,262 human rights defenders, including environmental activists, in Indonesia.
In April, a district court jailed Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan for seven months for his campaign against shrimp farms within the boundary of a marine national park off Java Island. However, an appellate court in May found the advocacy was a defense of constitutional rights and exonerated Daniel.
Indonesia produces more than half the world’s palm oil, which is found in everything from soap to processed foods and biodiesel. But in the absence of strong governance, local communities across the country have frequently turned to direct action in protest of alleged transgressions by palm oil companies, blocking roads and occupying plantations in many parts of the archipelago.
Rianda urged the government to conduct an environmental review of PPSP, including evaluating the company’s licensing documents.
“The factory is suspected of violating spatial planning by operating in a densely populated area, which could have a negative impact on residents’ health and the environment,” he said.
Labuhan Batu Police Chief Bernhard L Malau, who oversees the Rantauprapat jurisdiction, did not respond to requests for comment. Local police spokesperson Syafruddin Amir did not respond to a request for comment. PT PPSP’s Hermanto Maman did not respond to requests for comment.
“We were thinking long term about the waste, which will definitely have an impact on society, such as smell, illnesses and so on,” said Sahrul, Tina’s husband.
Banner image: Gustina Salim Rambe with a lawyer.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and first published here on our Indonesian site on Oct. 17, 2024.
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