JAKARTA – The palm oil industry players have asked the ministry of agrarian and spatial planning and the national land agency (ATR-BPN) to defend its legal products of cultivation rights (HGU) for certain oil palm plantation areas, which have been ignored by the ministry of environment and forestry (KLHK) by including them into forest areas.
They were commenting on the government’s plan to legalize a total of 2.2 million hectares of oil palm plantations, which are considered to have encroached the forest areas. “The ATR/BPN should be responsible on their legal products. They shouldn’t feel being pitted against the KLHK when we complain about the intention of KLHK to include our plantations that had received HGU into forest areas. We’re disappointed if that’s the case,” the Indonesian Palm Oil House (RSI) Chairman Kacuk Sumarto told the participants of a public discussion on palm oil governance organized by Nagara Institute in Jakarta on Thursday, 05 October 2023.
Kacuk, who is also commissioner of PT Paya Pinang Group, said that the ATR ministry should have protested the plan of KLHK to legalize the 2.2 million hectares oil palm plantations which have actually had their HGU. “Actually, the HGU was given to growers by ATR ministry and the KLHK and regional governments after a series of verifications over the locations,” he said.
“It means that you, in the ATR/BPN, are being ignored by KLHK. Your legal decision is canceled without any court trial. It’s your legal product based on the agrarian law No.5/1960 (UUPA) together with other team members, including from KLHK,” he said.
“You shouldn’t feel being pitted against them, but you must fight against their decision. This is not provocation. Why? Because we and ATR/BPN have several times filed lawsuits. We won the cases and have proven that HGU certificates are clean and clear,” said Kacuk.
He cited the example of the verdict of the Supreme Court No. 03PHUM/ 2013 which states that the areas awarded with the HGU certificates are outside of forest areas.
Based on data from KLHK, of the total 3.3 million hectares found problematic with HGU and forest location, only 237,000 hectares have documents (SK) on releasing the forest areas for plantation areas and 913,000 hectares are still in the process of getting such documents. The other 2.2 million hectares have not yet received the documents and are not yet being processed.
“The KLHK’s SK cannot cancel the HGU in the forest areas. It’s the wrong way of thinking,” said Kacuk. (*)
Source: sawitindonesia.com
