01/03/2013 (Mongabay.com) - PT Sinar Sawit Andalan (PT SSA), a palm oil plantation company in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, has denied allegations that the company employs children. PT SSA was responding to a video released earlier this month that showed school-age children carrying polybags at the company’s work site in West Kalimantan’s Sintang district.

A Sintang district government team has investigated the claim and released a progress report confirming the company’s statements. However another resident of the area has since come forward with similar accusations and has asked the provincial government to continue the investigation.

Speaking from a coffee shop in the provincial capital of Pontianak last Wednesday (2/20/13), Aditia Insani Taher, media relations assistant manager at the company, said that PT SSA has never had a policy of using child workers or employing children under the legal working age, in line with relevant labor laws.

Aditia was in Pontianak with Hovek, the Sintang resident who recorded the video. PT SSA had asked Hovek to clarify his footage of the children at the work site.