One of the residents with the initials BT who refused to be relocated for the national strategic project (PSN) Rempang Eco City was summoned by Galang Police. BT was accused of violating Article 28 of the Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (UU ITE).

The summons was issued on September 25 with the number B/02/IX/2023/Reskrim. BT's summons is scheduled for Wednesday (27/9) at the Galang Police Criminal Investigation Unit.

"For the purpose of the investigation, you are requested to be present to provide information which will be held on Wednesday, September 27, 2023," reads a copy of the summons.

BT was summoned after sending a message in a Whatsapp group regarding the rejection of relocation. BT is said to have called on residents to reject the basic necessities distributed by uniformed officers because it would lead to a request for residents' approval for relocation.

"[She] sent a message through the WhatsApp group of Sel Buluh residents, Kel Sembulang about her invitation / appeal / incitement to Sel Buluh residents not to easily accept free food if they don't want to end up being evicted from the village," wrote the summons.

Galang Police assessed that the message contained criminal elements, referring to Article 28 of the ITE Law, which reads that every person intentionally and without the right to disseminate information aimed at causing hatred or hostility of individuals and / or certain community groups based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA).

Public Relations Section of Barresta Police AKP Tigor Sidabariba denied that the letter was a summons. He said the letter was only for clarification.

"It was just a clarification, not a summons," Tigor told CNNIndonesia.com, Tuesday (7/26).

Form of criminalization LBH Pekanbaru Public Lawyer Wilton Amos Panggabean believes that the accusation is a form of criminalization against residents who refuse to be relocated.

"It is true like that [there is a summoning of residents], the accusation is in accordance with the article in the letter as a form of silencing the residents. They are trying to be criminalized," Wilton said when contacted.

Wilton said that until now the 43 residents who became suspects for refusing in Rempang have not been released. The 43 residents are not only from Rempang, but also Batam and Tanjung Pinang who are in solidarity to reject the project.

Wilton said that the Rempang advocacy team has not been able to access all the detained residents. Only 24 residents have been successfully assisted, the rest are still being sought.

"The advocacy team still cannot access all of them, so far we have assisted around 24 people and 2 people have been accompanied by others, we will continue to assist 43 people, including this new one," he explained.

Wilton admitted that there were still obstacles to assisting the 24 residents. The reason is, the advocacy team has difficulty meeting residents who are detained because the pretext is still in the process of investigation.

Thousands of residents of Rempang, Batam, Riau Islands are threatened with having to leave their homes because of the construction of the Rempang Eco City area.

The project, carried out by PT Makmur Elok Graha (MEG), will use 7,572 hectares of land or about 45.89 percent of the total area of Rempang Island of 16,500 hectares.

Thousands of residents did not accept having to leave the land they had lived on long before Indonesia proclaimed its independence. They persisted in defending their homes, even though TNI-Polri officers were deployed so that Rempang residents would agree to be relocated.

Clashes were inevitable. On September 7 and 11, 2023, clashes broke out. Police sprayed tear gas and children were rushed to the hospital. To date, 43 people who refused the relocation were arrested, accused of being provocateurs.