Environmental Activists Urge Palm Oil Companies to Disclose HGU; Gapki Responds

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) Eddy Martono responded to requests from environmental activists to disclose their right to cultivate (HGU) to the public. He said that all companies registered to Gapki have already reported their permit documents, including HGU, to the Agriculture Permit Information System (Siperibun).

However, Eddy refused to disclose the documents to the public. Eddy reasoned that the soft file of the documents including HGU is not owned by the companies. "The [soft file] is owned by the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning including the HGU and HGB," he said when met in West Bandung on Wednesday, August 23, 2023.

According to Eddy, the companies only received the physical copies of the map and certificate for HGU. Despite this fact, Eddy said the companies still conducted land mapping containing the planting limitations. 

Eddy proceeded to emphasize his unwillingness to disclose the data. "This our self-made [land mapping], not the official government-issued data. Thus, we refuse to publish the data to avoid the possibility of a data disparity caused by shifting," he said.

However, Eddy reflected that the public could still submit to the ministry for the official data of HGU documents with certain procedures.

Previously, the government obliged companies to report the data on current land conditions to HGU on the Siperibun website. 

Director of Sawit Watch Achmad Surambo said that the measure could not stop at data collection. He hoped that this measure could be a platform to exchange information and prioritize the openness principle.

Achmad stressed that the government has to push the companies to be transparent. "Hopefully, the data and information included in Siperibun could be publicly accessed which creates a public participation platform and encourages civilian control," said Achmad to Tempo on Monday, June 26, 2023.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

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