InfoSAWIT, PALANGKARAYA – Many concerned about palm oil plantation pillages in Central Kalimantan that always happened. Member of Regional Representative Council Indonesian Republic, Agustin Teras Narang and Indonesian Palm Oil Association (IPOA) urged the government to immediately solve the cases.
Teras Narang, the former Governor of Central Kalimantan Province in 2005 - 2015, emphasized it would be significant for the government to solve the issues.
“We urge the central, regional, regency, and village governments to solve the cases,” he said in Palangka Raya, Wednesday. He also told that it would need to conduct dialogue among the governments, the companies, and the people to figure out what was the root of the issue, the suspects, and why the cases happened.
He continued the government would play the important roles because it published operational permits for palm oil plantation companies. That is why the government should be in charge to maintain the conducive investment for the investors in the province. "The legal officials should directly see and serve the justice,” he said, as InfoSAWIT quoted from Antara, Thursday (5/9/2024).
In other place, Chairman of IPOA Central Kalimantan, Syaiful Panigoro said that palm oil plantation pillage in the province was not the new thing but it happened for too long. He said, the pillage was not pure action as the people’s demand but as the target by some parties that took advantages on the situation and it was well organized.
“Some organized groups conducted the pillage and it was not about what the people claimed for,” Syaiful Panigoro said. Even though there might be lack about permits that some companies should have, the pillage could not be the reason to let the crime happen.
As palm oil plantation organization for stakeholders, IPOA hoped there would be firm actions from the legal officers and the government about the issue. “The country has to win the case. It needs the legal officials to protect the investments in Central Kalimantan," Panigoro emphasized.
He also mentioned the pillage happened again in some companies, such as, in PT Mitra Karya Agroindo (MKA) in the Regency of Kotawaringin Timur, and in PT Bangun Jaya Alam Permai (BJAP). The thefts came with pickup cars, forced to get into the plantations, and forced to harvest fresh fruit bunch. Their crime raised fear for the workers and be negative for their income and palm oil production in the future.
The continuous pillages, he continued, would deliver losses not only for the workers but also for the companies. It would be potentially minimizing the revenue from the taxes. They brutal pillages also damaged the plants which eventually would decrease the production.
“The pillages happened not in one plantation but hardly took place in every plantation,” Panigoro said while emphasizing the urgency to solve the case seriously. (T2)
