Global Indonesian Voice (30/07/2018) - Catholic missionaries disclosed allegedly unfair practices involving the palm oil industry in Eastern Indonesia.

Jakarta, GIVnews.com – Although the European Union (EU) has agreed to delay its plan to ban palm oil imports from Indonesia, anti-palm oil forces in Europe have reportedly only just begun.

Following persistent negotiations and lobbies by Indonesian officials, the EU recently delayed its plan to fully ban palm oil import to 2023, from the initially planned 2019. Still, the EU insisted that Indonesia should consistently enhance palm oil sustainability so as to protect the people, ecosystems and carbon stocks, in line with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) 2030. Reportedly, the EU also recognized the crucial importance of palm oil industry for Indonesia, currently the world’s largest palm oil producer and exporter. Malaysia comes in second.

Palm oil industry is now Indonesia’s number one non-oil and gas foreign exchange earner.  But, the EU, through the European Commission, has alleged Indonesia of doing too little to curb rampant deforestation in the country, notably in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Forest destruction, which largely involved forest burnings, was said to be still ongoing in the archipelago. It was aimed to open new palm oil plantations or enlarge existing ones.

In addition to deforestation, the EU has also complained about unfair acquisitions of land for palm oil plantations and about unfair treatments received by their workers not only in Sumatra and Kalimantan but also in areas like Papua.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, local civil society groups that are aligned with such forces will increase similar movements. Jakarta-based Catholic weekly Hidup, in its latest issue, printed reports about traditional land acquisitions by palm plantation investors in Papua and Kalimantan and about the fate of their workers. The Catholic Church has strong presence in these two regions and its activists shared the concerns aired by environment and human rights groups in the country.

Father Anselmus Amo, secretary of the justice and peace commission (SKP) of the Catholic Archdiocese of Merauke in Papua, said palm oil plantations could now be found in almost all parts of Papua and West Papua provinces. Investors of those plantations are mainly from South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Yemen, according to the priest. In addition, he shared that foreigners are also involved in logging activities in Papua. Hailing from Flores in East Nusa Tenggara, Anselmus Amo is a member of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) told Hidup.

The priest made special mention of the district of Sorong which is home to several large palm oil plantations, two of which are listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI). Anselmus Amo shared that in 1996 three palm oil plantations were opened in areas near the popular Bentuni Bay. Investors bought land at ‘unbelievable’ low prices because, due to their poor education, the people could not even read and understand the land transfer documents, according to the missionary.

Meanwhile, another missionary priest, Father Aloysius Gonsaga Goa Wonga shared Anselmus Amo’s stories. Also chairing a commission for justice and peace at another missionary congregation, Aloysius Gonsaga told Hidup about the results of their field observations at palm oil plantations in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. “Expansions of palm oil plantations have occurred in a big way every year in line with rising market demand (for palm oil),” he said.

On all this, it is now up to the Indonesian government whether to keep its palm oil industry as a blessing or let it become a curse.