While sleeping on Monday (22/07) early morning, the indigenous people of Sihaporas claimed to be shocked by the arrival of dozens of people they did not know. Five residents were then forcibly taken from their village located in Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra.

It was only a few hours later that they learned that the five people were actually arrested by the Simalungun Police. The five were Jonny Ambarita, Thomson Ambarita, Giovani Ambarita, Prado Tamba, and Dosmar Ambarita.

Through a press release, Simalungun Police Chief, AKBP Choky Sentosa Meliala, said that they were arrested in connection with the alleged assault case reported by PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) partner workers.

Jonny, Thomson and Giovani have been named as suspects, while two others are “under investigation to determine their status in this case”.

PT TPL is a pulp manufacturing company whose management area overlaps with the area claimed by the community as their customary land.

PT TPL spokesman Salomo Sitohang told BBC News Indonesia that the company was “not connected” to the arrest. He said the case was reported to the police “personally by the victim.”

"TPL respects indigenous communities and emphasizes that this case is purely criminal and has been handled by the police and has nothing to do with any indigenous community," Solomon told BBC News Indonesia.

However, the Tano Batak Indigenous Peoples Alliance (AMAN) — a civil society organization that assists residents — said that this case cannot be separated from the presence of PT TPL and the agrarian conflict in this area.

According to AMAN, the Sihaporas indigenous community is fighting for their rights to land that overlaps with the company's concession area. However, they have not received recognition from the government.

"If the company says they are not involved in this incident, that is also impossible, because it is because of them that this incident occurred," said Hengky Manalu from AMAN Tano Batak.

The Sihaporas community is not the only indigenous community defending their land rights around PT TPL's operational area. This case is also not the first time indigenous people in Simalungun have faced the law.

In March 2024, a grandfather named Sorbatua Siallagan from another indigenous community in Simalungun, Ompu Umbak Siallagan, was also arrested by the police on charges of destroying forests in the company's concession area. Sorbatua is currently on trial at the Simalungun District Court.

The Sihaporas indigenous community is part of the Toba Batak tribe who inhabit Sihaporas Village, Pematang Sidamanik District, Simalungun, North Sumatra.

According to AMAN , this indigenous community is the descendant of Ompu Mamontang Laut Ambarita who has inhabited this area since the 1800s. They have lived in the area for generations.

The Indigenous Territory Restoration Agency (BRWA) —a civil society initiative to document indigenous peoples—recorded that this community has an indigenous territory of 2,093 hectares.

As many as 1,345 hectares of it are included in the PT TPL concession area.

The Sihaporas indigenous people claim that there are traces and heritage of their ancestors in the forest.

During this time, they also lived off the forest by farming and tapping sugar palm trees.

Medicinal plants used to make potions in traditional rituals also come from this forest.

In 1992, PT TPL received a concession permit of 269,060 hectares from the government. However, after the concession permit was revised several times, they now have the right to manage 167,912 hectares of industrial plantation forests.

The Sihaporas indigenous community began to fight against the company's presence in 1998, after the fall of the New Order regime.

For more than 25 years, conflicts have repeatedly arisen between the community and company workers.

Jonny and Thomson Ambarita, who were also arrested on Monday (22/07), were previously sentenced to nine months in prison in 2019 for an assault case reported by a company employee.

Although they claim to have also been abused by company employees, their report to the police has not been resolved clearly.