Part of the estate of the former of Langkat Regent. — ©️2023 The New York Times Company
THE Indonesian anti-corruption investigators began hunting for the powerful local official after they caught two of his aides taking a US$40,000 (RM187,000) bribe.
Their six-month investigation led them to a sprawling estate in North Sumatra, where they made a shocking discovery: 65 men locked in two cages.
The captives, investigators learned, had been imprisoned under the guise of a drug rehabilitation programme and forced to work as slaves at a palm plantation and palm oil factory owned by the official, Terbit Rencana Perangin-angin, and his family. Dozens of victims told authorities that they received no treatment for their addiction.
A cage where drug addicts were held;
“This was not rehab. This was jail,” said a 31-year-old former captive who goes by Bambang and assisted two government investigations. “They treated us like animals. We were just hopeless there.”
The corruption investigators arrested Perangin-angin, 50, on bribery charges in January 2022, days after the cages were discovered. He was tried and convicted of bribery in Jakarta, the capital, and sentenced to 7½ years in October. Police seized his factory, and he was stripped of his elected post as regent, similar to the leader of a county in the United States.
But Perangin-angin has not been charged or tried on any charges related to the men who were found caged on his property.
The case highlights Indonesia’s dismal human rights record and the rampant corruption that flourishes at the regional level, where governors, regents and big-city mayors are often called “little kings”.
An investigation by the North Sumatra provincial police found that 656 men and teenage boys had been imprisoned in cages on Perangin-angin’s land during the decade before his arrest. They were usually held for about 18 months before being released.
Most of the victims were forced to work at the factory or on the plantation. Many were tortured, whipped, burnt and sexually assaulted. Six prisoners died, including at least three who were tortured to death, according to Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights.
A photograph of Ardi, one of the victims who had been imprisoned. — ©️2023 The New York Times Company
Former captives also cleaned Perangin-angin’s mansion, washed his vehicles and fed his 200 cows. The captives were easily recognisable by their closely cropped hair.
“The regent didn’t want to spend money to hire workers, and so they enslaved us by using rehab as the excuse,” said The regent didn’t want to spend money to hire workers, and so they enslaved us by using rehab as the excuse 18, who was imprisoned at 15 and ordered to sweep floors at the regent’s mansion. “But they never gave us any treatment. It was basically a scam.”
Although the cages were an open secret in the community, local police and officials never intervened because Perangin-angin was seen as all powerful in Langkat regency, the jurisdiction where the cages were found. Some police officers and soldiers even helped guard or torture the men, victims and the authorities said.
“No one could stop him,” said Rianto Wicaksono, an agent with Indonesia’s Victim and Witness Protection Agency, an independent government agency that safeguards victims and witnesses of crime. “The police in the area were under his command. No one was brave enough to go up against him.”
Although Perangin-angin has avoided charges in the slavery case thus far, 13 of about 60 men identified by the victims have been prosecuted for their role in the operation.
Victims who testified about their mistreatment say they are frustrated by the leniency that police and courts have shown. None of the accused has faced more than a single charge, and the longest sentence handed down was three years.
A military court convicted five soldiers of torturing prisoners and sentenced them to a year or less. Five police officers – including Perangin-angin’s brother-in-law – were demoted but not charged.
Perangin-angin’s son, Dewa Rencana Perangin-angin, 25, was convicted in November of torturing a man to death and sentenced to 19 months. The father has denied any knowledge of the operation. He and his son did not respond to interview requests or written questions submitted through their lawyer.
The push for prosecutions has been led by the witness protection agency and the national human rights group, Kontras, which both conducted their own investigations and urged police to do more.
“It is no surprise that the legal process would go easy on all the culprits,” said Rahmat Muhammad, Kontras’ North Sumatra director. “It is because the regent is wealthy and has a powerful network.”
As the top elected official of Langkat regency, Perangin-angin enforced his will through violence, intimidation and political connections. He headed the locally dominant political party, as well as a politically
Perangin-angin was quietly released after serving half his 19-month sentence. A video showed him smiling and dancing at a wedding this year. — ©️2023 The New York Times Company
