InfoSAWIT, MERAUKE –Some members of Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP) South Papua Province said their aspiration in the visit of Vice President of Indonesia, Ma’ruf Amin to Merauke,
Katarina Mariana Yaas, a member of MRP South Papua said that the institution asked for the vice president to evaluate palm oil plantation permit in the province.
“We also asked that every investor both to be and that is still investing in South Papua should obey and respect the local indigenous legal,” she said to some journalists in the office of MRP South Papua, Thursday (6/6/2024).
Katarina thought every company that operates in the province should obey the Plantation Laws, which is, to develop plasma plantation 20 percent from the total areas they are operating. This is significant evaluation to make sure that the investment in the province, namely in palm oil plantation would be running as same as the regulation and policy.
“This evaluation would be significant. If the investments in this province, namely in palm oil plantations, are not evaluated, how could we get agricultural new planting and sugarcane that would lay on 2 million hectares,” Katarina said, as InfoSAWIT quoted from cenderawasihpos, Sunday (9/6/2024).
She also mentioned many of such companies failed to develop plasma plantations for the people that have rights on their indigenous areas and eventually broke the rights of workers. “Many workers do not get their rights as the regulations regulate. Their status of work is contract and never be recruited as state worker. “The companies did unemployment as long as they need in one side only without delivering the workers’ rights,” Katarina said.
She emphasized when investment comes to the province, it should positively deliver the impacts for the local people’s welfare. But the facts showed, the indigenous people are still poor, in hunger though there have been investments in their regions.
“Until now, the investments operate in their indigenous areas but the indigenous people are still poor, hungry, and even dead on their own land,” Katarina firmly said.
MRP South Papua hoped palm oil plantation permits, legal enforcement to indigenous legal obligation and the welfare of the indigenous people should get escalated and the investors respects the indigenous people’s rights. (T2)