InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Last week PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk., (AALI) the second biggest palm oil plantation company announced to point at independent consultant, Eco Nusantara to get further investigation of violation assumption to environment and human rights that its three subsidiaries might do in Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.
Friends of the Earth (WALHI is one of Friends of the Earth Indonesia), as the original complainant in the case versus Astra Agro, do not have consultation to develop reference frame in the new investigation.
“The people that get impacts from the operational of AAL emphasized that they do not need further investigation,” Forest and Plantation Campaigner Manager WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia, Uli Arta Siagian said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Monday (10/4/2023).
Siagian also mentioned every day when the justice is postponed, it is the day the justice is rejected. The evidences for the last one year should be enough for Astra Agro to be in charge in what the company did. “The company, in fact, does intimidate the people that their areas were taken. Ministry of Agrarian Affairs/National Land Agency should confirm that AAL should be responsible on the violation it did and the smallholders (farmers) get back their areas,” she said.
In March 2022, WALHI and Friends of the Earth United States of America, published a report that provided details how the subsidiaries of AAL, such as, PT Agro Nusa Abadi (ANA), PT Lestari Tani Teladan, and PT Mamuang got involved to take people’s areas, damaged the environment, did crime to environemental and human rights campaigners. Nine consumer brands, such as, PepsiCo, Hershey’s, and Mondelez postponed their palm oil purchase from AALI after the report was published.
Though the monitoring gets escalated, AAL chose to escalate conflicts with the people that got the impacts. Last month, army in complete guns threatened smallholders/farmers on the conflict areas between the people and PT ANA. In specific, PT ANA has been operating for more than a decade without having business rights – the legal needed to cultivate areas.
In August 2022, Eco Nusantara did investigation to AAL and released verification report which widely emphasized many violations.
“We hope that the new investigation by Eco Nusantara emphasized that Astra Agro operates in the people’s areas without their permits,” Senior Forests and Campaigner, Friends of the Earth AS, Gaurav Madan said.
Gaurav Madan also mentioned AAL should be in charge on environmental degradation and human rights violation. It needs to improve the environment that is damaged. “The reference frame to the new investigation should be announced to get full transparency,” he said. (T2)
