Geothermal Power in Flores Threatening Journalists and Evicting Populations

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - It was only after being forcibly taken away from the crowd, over to a police vehicle, that journalist Herry Kabut understood what was about to happen to him. On Oct. 2, 2024, the usually quiet equatorial forest was filled with the chants of around a hundred villagers, mobilized against the expansion of a geothermal plant. The project could lead to the eviction of thousands of them.

Police officers surrounded Kabut and confiscated his phone, computer and camera. Then the blows began to rain down. “They hit me on my body, my face and my chest, until my left temple swelled,” he recounted calmly. According to him, the outburst of violence was triggered by photos he had taken of villagers being arrested and loaded into a police vehicle: images that could potentially embarrass the law enforcement officers deployed to the scene. The police department did not respond to Forbidden Stories’ questions for this investigation.

Although Kabut had been on the front lines of a protest against the expansion project, located on the territory of Poco Leok’s Indigenous communities, he was not there as a demonstrator. Editor-in-chief of Floresa, he works for one of the few independent media outlets on the island of Flores, in southeastern Indonesia.

On the day of the assault, the police officer who manhandled him told him he had “been watching (him) for a long time,” accusing Kabut of being “a provocateur” and reproaching Floresa for producing “articles that are always negative about geothermal energy.”

It was in this context that the outlet, founded in 2014, decided to work with Forbidden Stories to continue and publish its investigation as part of a protective partnership, without fear of retaliation. In Kabut’s eyes, this collaboration taught the Floresa team “a lot about mitigating threats” in the field and made it possible to “bring local issues to international attention.”

A photograph of villagers arrested by police is said to have led to Herry Kabut’s assault. Doc. Herry Kabut

Herry Kabut’s swollen face following an alleged assault by police officers. Doc. Floresa

Geothermal energy: A high-stakes issue for Indonesia

The beating of their editor-in-chief shocked all the journalists in Floresa’s newsroom — but they understand the risks of their work. The 15 or so volcanoes dotting their island, home to more than 2 million inhabitants, are not the main threat. The danger comes instead from the authorities, who look unfavorably on this small group of journalists venturing into the sensitive terrain of corruption and the defense of local communities’ rights.

Tensions have risen further ...

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