JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto ordered prosecutors on Friday (April 10) to file criminal charges against companies that refuse to cooperate with a task force he launched to crack down on illegal activities in the country's forests.
The task force, made up of military personnel, prosecutors and environmental regulators, has since early 2025 been seizing areas controlled by companies and individuals, ordering them to pay fines for what they describe as illegal business operations in designated forest areas.
A total of 5.88 million hectares (14.5 million acres) of oil palm plantations and 10,257 hectares of mining concessions have been taken over so far, according to the deputy head of the task force, Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin - nearly twice the size of Belgium.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the task force's efforts, Burhanuddin handed 7.23 trillion rupiah (US$423.18 million) of fines paid by implicated companies over to the finance ministry.
Prabowo praised the task force's work and warned that anyone who refused to cooperate would be seen as going against the president himself.
"Therefore I order the Attorney General to enforce the law - those who do not want to cooperate, prosecute them. We will not hesitate and we will not be intimidated," Prabowo said.
Delivering a speech in front of a wall of stacked banknotes showcasing the fines paid, Prabowo said the assets confiscated so far have a total value of nearly US$22 billion.
In December, Burhanuddin warned that authorities could collect another US$8.5 billion in fines from firms implicated in the seizures.
However, the task force said last month that 34 companies have filed objections, with some arguing the area of land involved has been overestimated.
At the ceremony, the task force also handed over some 30,500 hectares of oil palm plantations to the state firm Agrinas Palma Nusantara, while another 255,000 hectares of areas were transferred to the forestry ministry.
Agrinas now manages around 1.7 million hectares of plantations taken over by the task force, making it the world's biggest palm oil company by land bank size.
Indonesia is the world's biggest exporter of palm oil, thermal coal and nickel.
Prabowo has vowed to protect Indonesia's precious natural resources, including its forests.
But despite the crackdown, environmental activists say Prabowo's other programmes, including the expansion of rice production and a campaign to boost energy self-sufficiency, have led to a sharp acceleration in forest loss. - Reuters
