West Papua fears huge agricultural plan from Jakarta

Bulldozers drive back and forth in the peat forest area in West Papua. Millions of trees are disappearing at breakneck speed to prepare the soil for the cultivation of rice and sugar cane. The large-scale deforestation is necessary for food security and economic growth, the government says. Critics call it ecological devastation.

Indonesia’s economic ambitions are great. This week it was announced that the country is joining the international alliance known as BRICS – a consultative body of non-Western economies such as Brazil, Russia and China.

Since the first two thousand excavators came from China to West Papua – ordered for 258 million dollars by coal magnate Haji Isam – more than a million hectares of peat forest have been excavated. A handful of rice and sugar cane tycoons, including Isam, are reclaiming 2.3 million hectares of peatlands in the area together with the Indonesian army. In the coming years, another twenty million hectares of tropical forest – an area twice the size of the island of Java – will have to make way for the expansion of the plantation industry. According to the authorities, it is evident that the army and police are being deployed to protect and implement this food project: food security is a matter of state security.

In the village of Wanam, where the excavators first started, the fish are already there disappeared from the swampresidents tell journalists from the independent weekly magazine Pace. “First we were startled by helicopters, then researchers came to test the ground with tubes and now the excavators have arrived,” says a pastor. And with the excavators came Indonesian troops. “The soldiers frighten the people,” says village head Kamilus Kahol from neighboring Uliuli. His villagers fear that Wanam’s fate will soon befall them too.

The designated area of ​​swamp forests and savannah extends over thirteen districts, forty villages with a total of fifty thousand indigenous residents. They live largely from hunting, feel deeply connected to the area and have been resisting the arrival of agricultural conglomerates for months. Each clan is connected to specific animal and plant species through the spirit of ancestors.

“The project is being brutally implemented, without any agreement or agreement with the local population,” said Pius Manu, who spoke on behalf of the residents. They protested in Jakarta last October, supported by human rights and environmental activists. The demonstrators had smeared themselves with white clay, an indigenous symbol of sadness.

Crop failures and forest fires

The local communities not only fear eviction from their land, but environmentalists also foresee an ecological disaster. The exploitation of peat forest areas releases greenhouse gases on a large scale and reduces biodiversity. Eighty endemic bird species still live around the Fly river, in addition to unique animals such as the De Bruijnpademelon, named after the Dutchman Cornelis de Bruijn who drew this kangaroo-like animal in 1706.

Agricultural experts disagree about the feasibility of Indonesia’s plans. Critics warn that changes in vegetation may disrupt the water balance of the swamp area. This can lead to dehydration, causing crop failures, forest fires and landslides. As a result, there are similar agricultural projects in Kalimantan failed.

Despite promises of participation and compensation, the protests have so far had no effect. Also is the mandatory environmental reporting not made. More soldiers have now been sent to the area. Villagers fear intimidation to be expelledwrite Tempo journalists who visited the area several times.

Access to West Papua is limited for foreign journalists and researchers. There have been fighting between independence movements and the Indonesian army since 1963, when it became an Indonesian province. Although the area is rich in raw materials, the population is poor. Due to subordination, discrimination and repression, control over the exploitation of resources is generally not possible.

Critics warn that changes in vegetation may disrupt the water balance of the swamp area

According to the Indonesian law and economics research center Celios, the legal mandate of the major food project conflicts with the special status of West Papua. The management from Jakarta marginalizes the regional power position and violates local ancestral land rights, say lawyers at the institute. Last November, the Awyu tribe lost land it claims on behalf of its ancestors to the conglomerate Indo Asiana Lestari. This aims to start on 36,000 hectares of palm plantations. Two of the three Supreme Court judges rejected Aywu’s claim. According to the third party, it had not been demonstrated that the plantation met the environmental requirements, but this judge was alone in that. Activists fear that the ruling will set the tone for subsequent agricultural projects.

Eating too little

There are plenty of plans for this. The Indonesian government announced last week to envision a staggering twenty million hectares of forest and peatland for food production for large-scale agriculture and palm plantations. Food security is a spearhead in the policy of President Prabowo Subianto, who took office in October. According to the United Nations World Food Program, this is necessary. In Indonesia, 23 million people do not have enough to eat. One in five children has stunted growth due to malnutrition.

By 2027, the country no longer wants to be dependent on food imports. A large part of the rice is imported, and President Prabowo wants to get rid of that import. In fact, he wants his country to become the regional ‘food basket’.

Contrary to international treaties, Indonesia’s agricultural plans are opening the door wide to large-scale deforestation. Environmental organizations, such as the Indonesian Walhi and Greenpeace, fear an ecological and humanitarian disaster; decrease in biodiversity, increase in violent conflicts, extra CO₂emissions and forest fires that accelerate climate change. “Food security sounds good, but this plan is not about people, it is about… earn money”, Walhi states on his website.

The project is being carried out brutally, without any agreement or agreement with the local population

Forestry expert Aida Greenbury worked in Indonesia as a sustainability consultant for twenty years. “I didn’t know what I heard,” she says on the phone from Sydney. “It is the Minister of Forestry who designates twenty million hectares of forest area to be cleared for palm plantations. I see the need to scale up food production, but that can also be done sustainably. There are laws that protect land rights, biodiversity and the environment. I don’t think they are being observed here. This is absurd.”

At odds with the EU

Prabowo especially wants more palm plantations. His country already accounts for 40 percent of the world’s palm oil. Palm plantations are of national strategic importance, the president emphasizes. For domestic food supply, but also for employment and economic growth. He is committed, among other things, to the export of biofuel, which is important in the energy transition. Indonesia has been at odds with the EU for years over the regulation of palm oil exports, which should combat deforestation. European conditions for sustainable production came into effect last month, although Indonesian resistance has given the country a year’s grace.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of that deforestation“, the president said in his speech at the presentation of the agricultural plans. “Palm trees also have leaves that release CO₂ to withdraw.”

He had a message for Europe, which he believes is making things unnecessarily difficult. Import conditions? Fine. “Then we won’t sell to you.”

This will mainly lead to chaos in the European production of chocolate, cosmetics and detergents, according to Prabowo. “Indonesia will be fine.” Buyers enough. Such as the partners in the BRICS trade bloc, which Indonesia joins.

Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia with almost 280 million inhabitants. It has ambitious plans for economic growth of 6 to 7 percent. Where Western trading partners fail, Indonesia will focus on countries such as China and Russia.

Joining BRICS is not a major political shift: the country maintains its policy of neutrality, for example regarding the war in Ukraine. Indonesia rejects the invasion of Ukraine, but will not sever relations with Russia.

More corruption

Critics fear that the food projects will lead to more corruption. Indonesia already ranks high in international corruption rankings. Last week, former President Joko Widodo was nominated by the Amsterdam-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project as the most corrupt leader of 2024. The food project in West Papua started in 2023 under his regime, with then Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto coordinating got. The exploitation of the fields is therefore carried out by the army and a handful of industrialists, including coal magnate Haji Isam.

Lake Sentani in West Papua. A handful of rice and sugar cane tycoons are reclaiming 2.3 million hectares of peatlands in the area with the Indonesian army. In the coming years, another twenty million hectares of tropical forest will have to make way for the expansion of the plantation industry.

This tycoon, from the province of Kalimantan, played an important role in Widodo’s election campaign in 2019 and in the election of Prabowo in 2024. In the Indonesian world of services and reciprocations, referred to by political scientists as cronycapitalism (crony capitalism), it is not inconceivable that Isam can benefit from major state projects in exchange for his campaign contributions.

Isam did not amass his fortune without scandals. He himself was involved in 2021 bribery in a tax case. His uncle Sahbirin Noor, governor of South Kalimantan, was accused of corruption, including permit tampering. Last November, a judge deemed that accusation unjustified. A controversial decision, according to the chairman of anti-corruption agency KPK, who states that the evidence against Noor overwhelming is.

Isam may have influenced the ruling. Because his influence has grown considerably in recent years. The Jakarta Post recently listed political appointments around his person: cousin Amran Sulaiman is now Minister of Agriculture, Isam’s brother-in-law Sulaiman Umar is Deputy Minister of Forestry. Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi, Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo and Environmental Affairs Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq are also associated with Isam. Purwagandhi and Hanggodo worked in his conglomerate Johnlin Group and Nurofiq was an official at the regional government department of Forestry in South Kalimantan, with which Isam had extensive contact for his mining and plantation companies in Kalimantan. He had a suspiciously fast career to the Ministry of Forestry and Environment, probably because of his contacts with Isam.

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