An expanse of hilly oil palm plantations stretches as far as the eye can see. On the afternoon of April 18, not a soul could be spotted crossing the road that cuts through the Muara Batang Gadis plantations at Mandailing Natal, or Madina for short, in North Sumatra. Only the occasional truck carrying palm kernels plied back and forth over the still unpaved road, the sound of their thunderous engines filling the air.
Guards standing watch forbade any unauthorized persons from entering the plantation at Suka Makmur village, the only 'official' way into the plantation. Zulham Nasution, the portal guard, said the area belonged to the North Sumatra University Development Cooperative (KP USU). It was not a public area. “Only KP USU people are allowed in," he said.
Over the past year, KP USU has been developing the land. They have bushwhacked some 400 hectares of forest to be transformed into an oil palm plantation. They are now cultivating an oil palm nursery. They plan to replant the seedlings on a 10,000-hectare site in four villages, namely Suka Makmur, Manuncang, Tabuyung and Singkuang Dua.
In the local government's view, however, the cultivation is illegal. “They have no permit," Hidayat Batubara, Chief of Madina District, told Tempo.
In 1998, the Forestry Minister issued KP USU a principal permit for land management to turn Madina forest into an oil palm plantation. Before the division of the territory into two districts in 1999, the area was part of the South Tapanuli District. Then South Tapanuli's National Land Office issued a permit for a 10,000-hectare location. Only in 2004 did the KP USU issue a license for a plantation business, which was approved by then Madina District Chief Amru Daulay. The license was valid until 2012.
District Chief M. Hidayat Batubara, who succeeded Amru in May 2012, did not extend the permit. Instead, one month later he issued a decree revoking KP USU's business permit in the district, which borders West Sumatra. But tractors and other heavy equipment had already been brought into the area.
KP USU filed a suit through Medan's State Administrative Court (PTUN) against Hidayat's decree. Last November, KP USU won the case.
While the case was still in court, Hidayat filed a complaint against the KP USU with the Madina police, since KP USU's machines were still bushwacking the forest. These activities amounted to a serious offense. “That's illegal logging," Hidayat said.
On March 19, Madina Police Crime Investigation Unit Chief Asst. Snr. Pol. Comr. Arifin Fachreza ordered that investigation into the case should cease. The police considered it an administrative offense rather than a criminal case. “Five expert witnesses stated this," Arifin said.
Suffering two judicial defeats did not despair Hidayat. He appealed the Medan PTUN's decision. During the process, he contended the KP USU could not carry out activities at Muara Batang Gadis. The reason for revoking KP USU's license was because the cooperatives, which are manned by former university lecturers and officials, had for years neglected the land.
According to Dismanto Tarigan, head of the Madina National Land Office (BPN), the Central BPN did at one time issue an official cadaster (survey or map) over the land which the KP USU sought to manage. This cadaster later served as a reference for the issuance of a principal permit and a permit for a plantation business. However, the KP USU from 1999 to 2001 had not vacated the land on which the local people generally planted rubber trees. “[Therefore] the KP USU's right [to cultivate the land] has become invalid," Dismanto Tarigan said.
The Madina government also accused KP USU of not having carried out a plasma plantation project (to be turned over later to the local people), despite the Agriculture Minister's 2007 decree that mandates that. Muara Batang Gadis resident Efe Roni Hia said the fate of his eight-hectare farmland on which he had planted rubber trees was unclear, since it was situated in the area on which the KP USU had laid its claim. “There has been no financial compensation," Efe said.
Chairuddin P. Lubis, Head of KP USU, said his side only intended to manage the Madina land until the plantation became productive, at which point it would be turned over to the people. Health, education and economic facilities would come later, he said.
Some say the situation has been manipulated by a giant oil palm company. Hidayat alleged that Asian Agri Group had set its sights on the land. KP USU was not a rich cooperative, he said, especially considering that it was structurally separated from the university. “Asian Agri offered a bribe through an individual and asked DPR members to persuade me to be cooperative," Hidayat said.
Asian Agri media officer Lidya Veronica Ginting denied the allegation. “We always apply good management standards and obey the rules," Lidya said, adding that Asian Agri had worked in cooperation with KP USU for the sake of boosting the university lecturers' welfare.
Unsavory rumors have also circulated about Hidayat, who has become an oil palm businessman himself. A Tempo source said Hidayat had insisted on revoking KP USU's permit because of another party that was anxious for control of the land. That party, the source said, was PT Agro Lintas Nusantara, which is said to have a close relationship with a major Malaysian agrobusiness corporation.
Agro Commissioner Irawan Lau said his company does have a 5,200-hectare oil palm estate in Madina. He does not deny his company's desire to take control of the land that KP USU has claimed, or to use money in order to win over the local people. “We are not seizing the land, since there has been no official permit over the land on which the KP USU lays its claim," Irawan said. It appears that the fight over the oil palm sites will be long, since each party seems to have enough ammunition.
MUSTAFA SILALAHI, SOETANA MONANG HASIBUAN (MANDAILING NATAL)
