Road Access to Farms Cut Off, Sihaporas Indigenous Community's Economy Deteriorates

For a month now, the economy of the indigenous community in Sihaporas Village, Pematang Sidamanik District, Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra, has been in decline. The road to their fields has been completely cut off. This is the aftermath of the agrarian conflict between the residents and PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) that remains unresolved.

Indigenous communities, along with religious leaders, have been working together to fill in the road. However, the road was excavated again using heavy machinery by the company. The indigenous communities are awaiting the state's role in resolving the agrarian conflict.

"We have not been able to go to the fields for a month because the road has been cut off by TPL. We cannot tend to and harvest coffee, ginger, corn, rice fields, and other agricultural products. We are waiting for the presence of the state to resolve this issue," said the Chairman of the Customary Institution of the Descendants of Ompu Mamontang Laut Ambarita Sihaporas (Lamtoras) Mangitua Ambarita, on Monday (20/10/2025).

Prolonged agrarian conflicts have also caused the community to lose their sense of security. In fact, residents claim to have lived there for generations. Their ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years.

Since the conflict reignited on Monday (22/9/2025), the indigenous community has preferred to stay at home. They only leave their houses to meet basic needs or to gather with other community members.

Mangitua, for instance, has not been able to visit his ginger and coffee fields. In fact, he should have been harvesting in the past few days. The ripe coffee cherries cannot be harvested. Everything is at risk of being neglected.

The Lamtoras Indigenous Community still has to fight for justice. They wish to meet with the Regent of Simalungun, the Simalungun Regional House of Representatives, the House of Representatives, and the National Commission on Human Rights.

"Our economy has really hit rock bottom. We haven't been able to work the fields for a month," said Mangitua.

Clashes occurred when hundreds of workers from TPL, consisting of security personnel and daily laborers, arrived in the Buttu Pangaturan area to plant and harvest the company's crops. They confronted at least 30 indigenous community members.

Attempts at dialogue failed. Instead, they pushed each other. There were also beatings with sticks and stones thrown.

As a result of the clash, 34 indigenous people were injured. In addition, four houses were damaged, 10 motorcycles, and one pickup truck were burned.

Not only that, eight motorcycles were damaged, six mobile phones, one laptop, and one grass chopper were also damaged following the clash.

On the TPL side, six workers were injured. Two company operational vehicles, a patrol car and a fire engine, were burned.

The agrarian conflict facing Lamtoras has been ongoing for a long time. They are demanding the return of 2,000 hectares of their customary land.

The customary land overlaps with the TPL concession. They have been cultivating the land since the 1800s for farming and gathering forest products. Community burial sites have also been established there.

However, in the 1990s, the government granted the land as a concession to TPL. Since then, agrarian conflicts between TPL and indigenous communities have continued to recur.

The Chairman of the Archipelago Indigenous Peoples Alliance (AMAN) Tano Batak Region, Jhontoni Tarihoran, stated that the indigenous community is awaiting the presence of the state to resolve the agrarian conflict in Sihaporas Village.

"For one month, agrarian conflict has occurred in Sihaporas Village, yet the indigenous community has hardly felt the presence of the state. The road to the fields has been cut off, but there has been no response from state apparatus," he said.

Jhontoni stated that the indigenous community had repaired the road so that they could access their fields, on Saturday (18/10/2025) afternoon. They were accompanied by several church organizations.

The institutions include Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Kapusin Medan, Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP), and the Theological College (STT) HKBP Pematang Siantar.

In addition, there are Huria Kristen Indonesia, the Community Initiative Study and Development Group (KSPPM), and the North Sumatra Legal Aid and Advocacy Association (Bakumsu).

There were approximately 200 people who blocked the road using shovels and sacks in three locations. However, on Saturday night, the road was excavated again with heavy machinery. It is suspected that this was carried out by the company.

Previously, the Director of PT Toba Pulp Lestari, Jandres Halomoan Silalahi, stated that the clash in Sihaporas Village involved obstruction and violence. The perpetrators were a group of individuals against the employees and workers of the company.

Jandres stated that at that time, workers were harvesting and planting in the concession area in the Aek Nauli Sector. This area is located in the village of Sihaporas and the sub-district of Sipolha.

Jandres stated that TPL has completed six rotations of planting and harvesting eucalyptus in the area. Conflicts began to arise in Sihaporas Village after the company intended to enter the seventh rotation of planting.

The activity, said Jandres, was carried out in accordance with the company's forest utilization business permit (PBPH) based on the Decree of the Minister of Forestry No. 493/Kpts-II/1992 in conjunction with the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry No. SK.1487/Menlhk/Setjen/HPL.0/12/2021.

As an industrial forest plantation company, TPL manages an industrial forest plantation concession covering 167,912 hectares around Lake Toba, North Sumatra.

Regarding the closure of access roads to the residents' fields, the Head of Corporate Communications of PT TPL, Salomo Sitohang, stated that they are excavating the road for company operations. The road, according to Salomo, is located within the company's concession area.

"The excavation in question is in the concession area and is for TPL's operational purposes," he said.

The state needs to be present in this endless agrarian conflict in Simalungun. If left unchecked, everyone there will inevitably become its victims.