Press Release
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI)
Jakarta, December 31, 2024. Prabowo’s statement that there is no need to fear expanding oil palm plantations and his plans for oil palm expansion are not particularly surprising, as these plans are already evident in current policies and programs. However, what is surprising is that the claim that expanding oil palm plantations does not cause deforestation because the trees have leaves—a statement that should come from the mouth of a president, who is expected to speak based on science, knowledge, research, and existing facts—is so shocking.
In fact, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) in 2022, through rilisnya", affirmed that oil palms are not forest plants. The KLHK also detailed how expansive, monoculture, and non-compliant oil palm plantation practices within forest areas have caused a variety of legal, ecological, hydrological, and social problems. “This shows that President Prabowo’s statement is not based on data and facts published by the government itself,” said Uli Arta Siagian, WALHI’s National Executive Forest and Plantation Campaign Manager.
According to KLHK data, illegal oil palm plantations within forest areas alone cover approximately 3.2 million hectares. This means that 3.2 million hectares of forest have been deforested due to large-scale oil palm expansion. In other words, the president clearly did not use the government’s own data when speaking about deforestation and oil palm. Not only does this lead to deforestation, but pollution, river damage, water crises, floods, landslides, and forest and land fires also constitute losses that the people and the environment must bear.
In fact, earlier this December (December 8, 2024) UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups wrote to the Indonesian government regarding violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, environmental degradation, intimidation, and the criminalization of Human Rights Defenders (HR) that are widespread in the palm oil industry, adding to a growing list of concerns regarding the operations of Indonesia’s palm oil giants, particularly those of Astra Agro Lestari (AAL) subsidiaries in Sulawesi.
The continued expansion of large-scale oil palm plantations will further prolong the cycle of agrarian conflicts, environmental destruction, forest and land fires, ecological disasters, and corruption in the palm oil sector. Moreover, in his statement, Prabowo called on the police and the military to protect palm oil plantations. This statement is extremely dangerous, as the president is publicly instructing the police and the military to protect palm oil interests.
The reality is that police and military personnel have consistently sided with companies involved in agrarian conflicts with local communities. It is not uncommon for security forces to engage in intimidation, violence, and criminalization against communities in conflict with companies in the palm oil plantation sector. “Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that this directive will legitimize a security-oriented approach in the implementation of palm oil companies’ production operations by security forces, which has the potential to lead to an increase in cases of intimidation, violence, and criminalization against local communities,” concluded Uli.
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