InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – Another recurring issue is land claims and the sale of plasma plots. The plasma program was originally designed to provide long-term economic benefits to local villagers. However, it’s not uncommon for these plots to be sold to outside parties. “Once they are sold, villagers lose their source of income. They end up becoming laborers, then they complain, and it sometimes leads to conflict,” explained Johan Sukardi, Director of Corporate Affairs at PT Bumitama Gunajaya Agro, to InfoSAWIT recently.
Unfortunately, there is no legal framework that explicitly prohibits such transactions. Companies can only encourage cooperatives to create internal mechanisms to ensure plasma plots remain owned by the original villagers.
Meanwhile, land claims, whether by residents or external parties, often arise without warning. Johan explained that all claims must be verified openly. “Who is the claimant? What are their documents? What is the history of the land?” he said. "If there's no basis, we consider them speculators. But if there is strong data, we sit down with village officials, traditional leaders, and even village elders to resolve it.” This approach may take weeks, even months, but is considered much more effective than a power struggle.
Building Connections as a Strategy
As BGA (Bumitama Gunajaya Agro) has done, it established the Community Connection Forum (FORSIMAS) as a formal discussion space between the company and the community. Here, residents' voices are heard equally. Complaints, aspirations, and misunderstandings are addressed in regular, open forums.
But true communication, Johan says, happens outside the meeting room. “I often visit the village head’s home, we chat over coffee. From there, we find out what's really going on,” he said.
According to Johan, today's planters can't just understand harvesting or fertilizer. They also need social skills, empathy, and the art of communication. "If a young graduate only thinks about tonnage targets, they will get frustrated quickly. Because in reality, 70 percent of our work is managing people, not Fresh Fruit Bunch.” (T2)
