Fear grips Indonesian palm oil industry as military seizes plantations

Indonesian soldiers in fatigues marched onto a private palm oil plantation on Borneo island in late June and posted a signboard declaring the estate under government control, its managers said. The scene at the Melati Hanjalipan plantation exemplifies a sweeping military-backed takeover that has sent a chill through the world’s biggest palm oil producer and its 16-million-strong workforce. Around 3.7 million hectares (9.1 million acres) of plantations have been seized, with nearly half transferred tonascent state firm Agrinas Palma Nusantara, catapulting it into the world’s largest palm oil company by land size. The crackdown ordered by President Prabowo Subianto is the biggest structural change in Indonesia’s palm industry and has brought a total of 5 million hectares under military scrutiny. That is about 30% of the country’s total palm oil acreage and an area bigger than the Netherlands. The territory could eventually be handed to Agrinas, a company industry experts say is ...