9
Figure 3. The PTPN proposed oil palm plantations along the Kalimantan – Malaysia border.
Source: PTPN and Google Earth
In the PTPN proposal, all 18 plantations would be developed by the State Plantation Corporation. A different reading of the division of concession rights was given by a
Senior Researcher at the Indonesia Research and Strategic Analysis, Faisal Basri. According to him, the 1.8 million ha would be divided as follows: 600,000 ha would
be allocated to Chinese investors while the remaining 1.2 million ha would be given to Indonesian companies.
2.6 Sinar Mas
In April 2005, the Indonesian Sinar Mas group was reported by Indonesian media to have agreed to invest US 500 million in the border oil palm project. The group would
develop the project in partnership with the CITIC Group from China with whom Sinar Mas signed a contract during the visit of the Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla to
Beijing in August 2005.
27
Under the cooperation, CITIC will be responsible as a contractor to build roads, bridges, irrigation, a crude palm oil CPO processing plant, warehousing and
transportation facilities, housing and other necessary facilities. It will also procure processing machinery. The construction will take four years.
28
Indonesian media furthermore reported that Sinar Mas group would be allocated a vast area in the
project 500,000 ha because the company had assisted the Indonesian government in bringing the Chinese investors to Indonesia.
29
A company manager confirmed that when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Kalimantan, he asked Sinar Mas
to join in the development of the border area.
30
10
The Sinar Mas group has a reputation for its aggressive plantation development strategies and already holds the rights to oil palm plantations in the Kalimantan
border area. Among these is PT. Usaha Malindo Jaya, a former Yamaker concession see also Table 1 and Figure 7.
31
The Sinar Mas group furthermore has extensive interests in the pulp and paper industry through the Asia Pulp Paper group. In
2005, the group took over the Finnantara Intiga pulpwood plantations in the border area of West Kalimantan.
Box 2. Indonesian Palm Oil Commission IPOC A few years ago, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture together with key players in the
Indonesian palm oil industry such as Sinar Mas set up the Indonesian Palm Oil Commission IPOC to improve government – private sector dialogue on plantation issues, and to improve
the image of the palm oil industry abroad. Responding to the border oil palm mega-project, Dr. Rosediana Suharto, executive chairperson of IPOC stated in August 2005:
We only support the establishment of oil palm plantations that are based on sustainable and environmental principles. Since IPOCs task is to promote a positive image of the Indonesian
palm oil industry, large scale deforestation is a very sensitive issue. Consumers do not want to be associated with the destruction of rainforests.
32
2.7 Artha Graha Group and the Sampoerna family
