InfoSAWIT, BOGOR – President Prabowo Subianto’s decision to revoke business licenses of 28 companies found violating forest land-use rules in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra has drawn a strong response from civil society group Sawit Watch.
While welcoming the firm move, Sawit Watch warned the policy should not stop at administrative action alone.
The license revocation order was issued on Jan 21, 2025, involving 22 companies holding forest utilization permits (PBPH) and six other firms operating in mining, plantations, and Timber Forest Product Utilization Business Permits (PBPHHK).
Sawit Watch Executive Director Achmad Surambo said the revocation is a positive first step, but the government must ensure open, firm, and pro-people follow-up actions.
“While we appreciate the government’s firm steps as a swift response to ecological disasters, we view the revocation as only the first step, not the final solution,” Surambo said in a statement received by InfoSAWIT on Thursday (Jan 21, 2026).
Call for Sanctions and Ecosystem Restoration
Sawit Watch argued that the revocation confirms serious breaches of environmental sustainability principles. Therefore, Surambo said the government should pursue stronger enforcement, including criminal and civil corporate liability and sanctions for environmental destruction.
He stressed that companies should not escape responsibility simply by losing permits and must finance ecosystem restoration in affected areas.
Without concrete, transparent, and people-centered follow-up measures, Sawit Watch warned the policy could become mere administrative formality.
Largest Concessions Highlight Structural Governance Crisis
Based on Sawit Watch’s preliminary assessment, five PBPH permit holders accounted for the largest revoked concession areas. PT Sumatera Riang Lestari was recorded as the biggest, with about 217,559 hectares (around 32%), followed by PT Toba Pulp Lestari Tbk with 168,042 hectares.
Other major revoked concession holders include PT Gunung Raya Utama Timber with 107,006 hectares, PT Aceh Nusa Indrapuri with 97,769 hectares, and PT Teluk Nauli with 83,294 hectares.
Sawit Watch said the data shows revocations targeting massive forest area control, mainly by pulpwood and logging-based corporations, indicating deep structural governance problems rather than isolated incidents.
“No Rebranding” After Revocation
Surambo warned of a recurring pattern where revoked lands are handed back to other large corporations or “old players” under new names.
He urged the government to freeze corporate activity on the revoked areas until environmental and social audits are completed.
Sawit Watch also called for the land to be prioritized for Indigenous peoples, local communities (IPLC), and small-scale palm oil farmers who have long faced marginalization and agrarian conflicts.
“Land must be returned to the people as the primary subject of natural resource management,” Surambo said, urging immediate implementation of Agrarian Reform Land Objects (TORA) schemes.
Worker Protection Must Be Ensured
Sawit Watch labor specialist Zidane also highlighted potential risks to workers, warning that permit revocation often triggers mass layoffs without severance pay.
He urged the government to ensure that assets from companies whose permits are revoked can be used to settle workers’ legal entitlements.
“Workers must not become double victims—victims of disasters and victims of policy,” Zidane said.
Surambo concluded by urging the Prabowo administration to go further with a comprehensive audit, environmental recovery, and land redistribution to local communities, rather than transferring the land to new corporations.
“If the land only changes hands to other businessmen, then people in Sumatra are only waiting for the next flood,” he said. (T2)
