Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Indonesia growth push sparks fight on deforestation, rights

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760691044118Image (35).jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Jakarta, Indonesia. ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Jakarta, Indonesia.<em> ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>JAKARTA — An &quot;eco-city&quot;, a mining complex, and a massive project to grow food and fuel are all part of an Indonesian growth drive that activists allege is causing deforestation and dispossession.</p><p>The projects have been sped by a deregulation campaign that began in 2020 with an &quot;omnibus law&quot; that reformed dozens of regulations at once to boost investment and create jobs in Southeast Asia&#x27;s largest economy.</p><p>But the law had to be revised just three years later after parts were ruled unconstitutional.</p><p>Now it faces fresh legal jeopardy, with two challenges before the constitutional court brought by environmentalists and rights activists who say the drive does little to help ordinary people.</p><p>It is &quot;being used as a pretext to legitimate big industrial projects&quot;, said Salsabila Khairunisa, a researcher at NGO Pantau Gambut, which is among the plaintiffs.</p><p>&quot;They do not consider the well-being of the people.&quot;</p><p>At issue are the 2023 &quot;job creation law&quot; that replaced the omnibus law, and its enshrinement of the controversial &quot;national strategic project&quot; (PSN) designation.</p><p>Previously only conferred by presidential decree, PSNs are seen as a way to fast-track major infrastructure and speed investment.</p><p>But they also replace a previously required environmental assessment with a simple &quot;commitment letter&quot;, and limit input to those &quot;directly impacted&quot;, excluding NGOs or outside experts.</p><p>&quot;In practice, affected communities do not always have the knowledge, courage, or access to raise objections,&quot; noted researchers at Indonesia&#x27;s State University of Semarang in an analysis.</p><p>Critics say PSNs are being used for projects with minimal domestic benefit, including industrial zones managed by foreign companies, and allow developers to ride roughshod over environmental and rights protections.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/9/17/more-than-140-environmental-defenders-killed-in-2024-1421"><strong>More than 140 environmental defenders killed in 2024<br/></strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;Making them miserable&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Among their most prominent examples is a campaign in South Papua province&#x27;s Merauke that some environmentalists dub the world&#x27;s &quot;largest deforestation project&quot;.</p><p>The program&#x27;s true scale is unknown, but at a minimum it aims to plant several million hectares of rice and sugar cane for food and biofuel.</p><p>&quot;The Merauke PSN project has destroyed natural forests, hamlets, and areas managed by Indigenous communities,&quot; said Roni Saputra, director of law enforcement at NGO Auriga Nusantara, another plaintiff.</p><p>It has &quot;clearly displaced the territory of Indigenous communities, without any meaningful consent&quot;, he told AFP.</p><p>The military has been heavily involved, a measure made possible by the PSN designation, causing tension in the restive region.</p><p>Indonesia officially seized Papua, a former Dutch colony, in a widely criticised but UN-backed vote in 1969.</p><p>It has since been accused of abuses in a decades-long separatist conflict in the region.</p><p>In one village, &quot;more than 2,000 soliders were deployed, more than the number of locals&quot;, said Frederikus Stanislaus Awi of the Papua Merauke Legal Aid Institute.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t hate development... but let us make efforts for development that appreciates Indigenous communities.&quot;</p><p>Elsewhere, several thousand residents of Rempang in Riau Islands province face eviction for an &quot;eco-village&quot; where Chinese investors will manufacture glass and solar panels.</p><p>Miswadi, an Indonesian fisherman and farmer who uses one name, faces displacement from his village Sembulang and is a plaintiff in one case.</p><p>He said compensation plots were far smaller than the land villagers are losing, and residents have been intimidated by authorities.</p><p>&quot;The government said investment is to make people prosperous,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s not bringing prosperity to people, but making them miserable.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/16/gen-z-protests-why-are-asia-s-youth-so-angry-0235"><strong>Gen Z protests: Why are Asia&#x27;s youth so angry?<br/></strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;A blunt tool&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Indonesia&#x27;s Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, which oversees PSNs, did not respond to a request for comment on the court cases.</p><p>But the government&#x27;s own National Commission on Human Rights has cited reports of intimidation, violence, unfair compensation and environmental damage linked to PSNs.</p><p>Indonesia&#x27;s need for economic growth is clear, said Siwage Dharma Negara, an economist and senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, but there is more than one path to get there.</p><p>&quot;PSNs have been used as a blunt tool to support whatever infrastructure project,&quot; focused on speed and scale rather than impact, he told AFP.</p><p>&quot;We need to start changing that mindset... we have to think about long-term implications,&quot; he added.</p><p>&quot;Not just the positive economic impact, but also the negative impact to the environment, to the community, ecosystem. That often is neglected.&quot;</p><div><a href="http://Indonesian president asks Trump for meeting with son Eric in &#x27;hot mic&#x27; moment"><strong>Indonesian president asks Trump for meeting with son Eric in &#x27;hot mic&#x27; moment</strong></a></div>

<p>An "eco-city", a mining complex, and a massive project to grow food and fuel are all part of an Indonesian growth drive that activists allege is causing deforestation and dispossession.</p>

An "eco-city", a mining complex, and a massive project to grow food and fuel are all part of an Indonesian growth drive that activists allege is causing deforestation and dispossession.