Improved Governance, Government Will Whitewash 3.3 Million Hectares of Palm Oil in Forest Areas

Oil palm plantation business actors are asked to report data on their business permits to the government. This is in order to improve the palm oil ecosystem from upstream to downstream.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

WILLY MEDI CHRISTIAN NABABAN

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (center), along with other government officials held a press conference regarding the improvement of the governance of the palm oil industry at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment in Jakarta, on Friday (23/6/2023).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government plans to whitewash or legalize 3.3 million hectares of oil palm plantations located in forest areas. Bleaching is an effort to improve governance of the palm oil industry which is considered chaotic. In this way, the area of ​​oil palm plantations owned by companies, cooperatives, and people becomes clear, law and tax abiding.

Bleaching is a step to resolve the problem of oil palm plantations in accordance with the mechanism of Article 110 A and 110 B Job Creation Law. These problems, such as location permits, cultivation rights (HGU) for oil palm plantations, which are often intersected with forest areas.

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said, there are 16.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Of that amount, an area of ​​10.4 million hectares is used by companies, while the rest is for smallholder plantations. However, 3.3 million hectares of Indonesia's total oil palm land is in forest areas.

"The palm oil plantations in the area will be whitened. What else can be done? It cannot be removed, so it is forced to be whitened," he said in a press conference on the improvement of the governance of the palm oil industry at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment Office in Jakarta on Friday (23/6/2023)."

Read also: Awaited Work Program for the Palm Oil Governance Task Force

A press conference was attended by the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Mahfud MD, Head of Financial and Development Supervisory Agency M Yusuf Ateh, Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara, and representatives from other government agencies. In addition, the Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Shinta Widjaja Kamdani and representatives from associations related to palm oil were also seen attending a closed meeting prior to the press conference.

Before the bleaching of oil palm land in forest areas, said Luhut, the government first confirmed data on plantation areas owned by companies, cooperatives and the people. Therefore, plantation business actors are required to report independently (self-reporting) their licensing data through the official website of the Plantation Licensing Information System (Siperibun) in the range of 3 July to 3 August 2023.

The data reported by the entrepreneurs will next be investigated for its field conditions by the relevant authorities. If suspicious data is found, the business perpetrator will be summoned by the government for further examination. This is because the existence of oil palm in forest areas also involves government officials, entrepreneurs, and the community.

"From the audit results, it was found that many business actors do not have permits such as location and HGU. Therefore, it is expected that all business actors are orderly, disciplined, and provide accurate data. If the upstream is chaotic, the downstream will also be chaotic," said Luhut."

The reported data from the entrepreneurs will be further examined by relevant agencies to assess the actual on-site conditions. If any suspicious data is found, the businesses involved will be summoned by the government for further investigation. This is because the presence of palm oil plantations in forest areas also involves government officials, entrepreneurs, and society.

Also read: Polomics on Palm Oil Governance

Suahasil Nazara revealed that there are many inconsistent data of palm oil businessmen, even though they belong to the same company. Once the data is collected, the issue of palm oil plantation within forest areas also needs to be resolved.

"The resolution will utilize Articles 110A and 110B of the Job Creation Law, and must be completed no later than November 2nd, 2023. Business operators can be cleared (if their oil palm plantations are located within forest areas). As a result, business operators will comply with the law and regulations, pay taxes, and so on," he said.

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

Herman (48) used a sickle to trim the palm fronds at his oil palm plantation in Talang Arah Village, Malin Deman District, Mukomuko Regency, Bengkulu Province on Saturday (3/6/2023).

Overall

Yusuf Ateh said, oil palm governance would be addressed from upstream to downstream. Currently, data collection is an effort to improve the oil palm ecosystem in the upstream sector.

"We need to know the exact land data first. How many private plantations are there, how many community plantations are there. This data is not yet available, so the development of community palm oil is also not effective," he said.

Read also: All Palm Oil Companies to be Audited Immediately

Luhut added that the collected data also relates to the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS), especially in their re-planting program. People's palm plantations with a productivity of 1.9-2 tons per hectare can be increased up to 7-9 tons per hectare.