EAST HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Police in Indonesia’s North Maluku province arrested 27 people and charged 11 of them with weapons offenses and commercial obstruction in late May following conflict with a nickel mining company controlled by Indonesia’s billionaire Barki family.

The 11 residents of Maba Sangaji village, which is located in East Halmahera district, are alleged to have taken 18 sets of keys for heavy vehicles operated by nickel miner PT Position, a subsidiary of the Barki-controlled Harum Energy, on April 16-17. Police seized 10 machetes, five catapults, one spear, a bow, and several arrows.

“Their actions showed gangsterism that disrupted the community and investment,” Bambang Surhayono, a spokesperson for North Maluku Police, said in a statement.

Anto Yunus, a lawyer for the detained men, said they were victims of physical assault during the detention.

“We have seen it and photographed it,” Anto said. Mongabay has not independently verified evidence of physical abuse.

The seizure of blades, which the men use as farming tools, was not evidence of criminal intent, Anto said, calling on police to release the men and pursue remedial motions out of court under “restorative justice,” a form of mediation.

“Demonstrate that the company’s financial losses were due to the citizens’ actions. If there were no losses, don’t make excuses,” he added.

Guidelines published by Indonesia’s attorney general in 2020 say mediation can be applied in lieu of criminal proceedings if a settlement is adjudicated to be in the public interest and proportionate to the alleged offense. Anto said the legal team would file a motion seeking mediation before trial.

Assume the position

North Maluku is a once-remote site where Alfred Russel Wallace’s study of the archipelago’s biodiversity in the 19th century contributed to the understanding of the theory of evolution.

However, Halmahera and its outlying islands that make up much of North Maluku province have emerged as a strategic quarry as China and the U.S. race to secure minerals vital to new technologies and the global energy shift. The area is the nickel-mining heartland of Indonesia, and the country is the world’s top producer of the metal used in applications from electric vehicle batteries to wind turbines.

From 2002-2024, North Maluku province lost 7.7% of its old-growth rainforest, according to data published by the World Resources Institute.

Last December, Mongabay reported from Bicoli village in South Maba subdistrict, just 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of the Maba Sangaji forest, where residents fear land-use change by the nickel mining industry will destroy sago groves essential for nutrition.

Around 150 km (93 mi) east of the Maba Sangaji forest, farmers on Indonesia’s Gebe Island coexist with seven mining companies on an island less than a third the size of Singapore.

Last year, Mongabay published health data from the village of Lelilef Sawai, site of the Weda Bay Industrial Estate, a major nickel-processing site, showing the number of people diagnosed with respiratory infections increased from 434 cases in 2020, to 10,579 cases in 2023.

Two environmental advocates were arrested in Jakarta last year following a protest over flooding linked to mining in Central and East Halmahera districts that displaced 1,700 people.

Local refusal

The latest flashpoint in Halmahera began late last year when Maba Sangaji villagers found nickel miner PT Position quarrying the forest, causing damage to local crops and pollution of a river flowing through the subdistrict and out to the Halmahera Sea.

Local farmers erected signs in an attempt to demarcate the customary forest, halting what they considered to be encroachment.

PT Position staff had met with the elected village head at the end of 2024, and reportedly allocated 2,500 rupiah per square meter of land, equivalent to less than $1,500 per hectare (about $600 per acre). Local people Mongabay spoke with said they felt the discussions were not held in good faith because they were not involved directly in the consultation.

“The forest destroyed by the company was a nutmeg grove,” Anto said.

PT Position is a subsidiary of Harum Energy, a major extractives firm founded by the billionaire Kiki Barki. Two members of the family, Kiki’s sons Lawrence and Steven Scott, sit on the five-person board of Harum, together with Yun Mulyana, a former deputy chief of Indonesia’s National Police.

The practice of giving sinecures on company boards to well-connected retired police and military officers is ubiquitous throughout the plantation and extractive industries in Indonesia.

In 2020, the Indonesian ombudsman said that 397 officials served on the boards of state-owned enterprises and 167 at SOE subsidiaries, two-thirds of whom were active members of local government, police, military, security services or the country’s national auditor.

Data held by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), an NGO, showed PT Position holds a mining permit covering 4,017 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres), valid from 2017 to 2037. PT Tanito Harum Nickel owns 51% of the firm, while a Singaporean company, Nickel International Capital Pte. Ltd., holds the remaining 49%.

Position paper

On May 19 a crowd of residents gathered in front of the North Maluku Police headquarters in support of the 27 arrested farmers from Maba Sangaji.

“It shows clearly that the police’s attitude is to openly defend the company and not resolve the customary land conflict in Maba Sangaji,” local resident Amin Yasim said. “The police’s job should be to serve and protect the community.”

Julfikar Sangaji, the head of Jatam’s North Maluku office, said the arrested men were farmers and fishers. He called for revocation of PT Position’s operating permit, a review of what he characterized as a heavy-handed police investigation, and for the detained residents of Maba Sangaji to be released with no further action against them.

PT Position did not respond to a request for comment. The company’s listed phone number was not active.

“Sharp weapons and committing acts of ‘thuggery’ diverts from the issue,” Julfikar said. “It’s justification for the repressive actions of the authorities against Indigenous people.”

Banner image: Locals who were arrested at the North Maluku Regional Police headquarters, May 19. Image courtesy of the residents.

This story was first published here in Indonesian on May 20, 2025.

Nickel miners dig up Indonesia’s Gebe Island despite Indigenous and legal opposition