- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has upheld the government’s decision to block further expansion of the Tanah Merah oil palm project in Papua, preserving a Jakarta-sized swath of primary rainforest.
- The ruling strengthens the forestry ministry’s authority to halt deforestation and was influenced by testimonies from the Indigenous Awyu tribe, who rely on the forest for survival.
- While the decision prevents further clearing, it doesn’t grant Indigenous land rights to the Awyu, leaving the tribe vulnerable to future displacement.
- Other companies are vying for control over concessions within the Tanah Merah project, fueling further conflicts and prompting Indigenous groups to seek formal land rights recognition.
JAKARTA — The Indonesian Supreme Court has upheld a government decision to curb the expansion of a multibillion-dollar oil palm plantation project in the country’s easternmost region of Papua.
In its Dec. 2, 2024, ruling, the court rejected lawsuits filed by two plantation companies that are part of the Tanah Merah mega plantation project, PT Megakarya Jaya Raya (MJR) and PT Kartika Cipta Pratama (KCP).
The ruling spares 65,415 hectares (161,644 acres) of rainforest — an area the size of Jakarta — in both concessions from further clearing.
This sets a major legal precedent for forest conservation in the country as it reinforces that the forestry ministry has the legal authority to order companies to stop clearing forests if they fail to develop plantations or violate environmental regulations, said Sekar Banjaran Aji, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace Indonesia who represents the Indigenous Awyu tribe in the case.
“[The ruling shows] that if the government actually wants to evaluate permits and take action, they do have the power. They just need clear rules of the game, for example, a clear mechanism for evaluation,” she told Mongabay. “With this ruling, the forestry ministry shouldn’t be afraid anymore to crack down on problematic palm oil companies in Papua.”
The ruling marks the latest legal development in the Tanah Merah project, the world’s largest palm oil estate, which has seen investors battling over the rights to clear large swaths of primary rainforest.
History of Tanah Merah
The project is divided into seven concessions and sits on an immense block of primary forest spanning 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) of rainforest — an area nearly twice the size of New York City — in the province of South Papua. These forests are home to a number of Indigenous tribes, including the Awyu (also spelled Auyu).
If developed in full, it would be the single largest bloc of oil palms in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil.
Since the project’s inception, ownership of the various concessions have changed hands several times.
An investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project in 2019 found that some of the concessions were owned by unknown investors hiding behind anonymously held firms in the Middle East.
In addition to issues with corporate secrecy, the Tanah Merah project has also been plagued with irregularities in its licensing process.
A 2018 investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project found that some permits were signed by a local politician while he was in jail for corruption. A follow-up investigation found that other permits appeared to have been falsified, with an official’s signature said to have been forged on key documents.
Legal battles
Development has begun on some of the concessions, including those operated by MJR and KCP, which have been tied to Pacific Inter-Link, a holding of the Yemeni-based Hayel Saeed Anam conglomerate.
MJR and KCP had cleared 8,828 hectares (21,814 acres) of rainforest for plantations, but a government evaluation found that the concessions remained mostly idle, with little evidence of production. In response, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry revoked their forest-clearing rights in 2022, ordering them to preserve the remaining 65,415 hectares of rainforest.
The companies sued the ministry, arguing that the decision harmed their business interests, and initially lost at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN). However, they won on appeal at the Jakarta High State Administrative Court (PTTUN), which ruled in their favor in February 2024.
The ministry and the Awyu tribe, whose ancestral forests would be threatened if the companies resumed operations, appealed to the Supreme Court. In December 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the PTTUN’s ruling, upheld the forestry ministry’s authority to regulate forest use, and confirmed that the companies could no longer clear additional forest for oil palm plantations.
Mongabay reached out to the law firm that represents MJR and KCP in the case, Leks&Co, for comment, but they did not respond by the time of publication.
Hendrikus Woro, a member of the Awyu tribe who testified in court for the cases, welcomed the ruling, calling it “truly fair.” He said he hopes the government now upholds the ruling by ensuring that his tribe’s ancestral forest in the two concessions remains protected as it holds great cultural and ecological significance.
Hendrikus said the tribe’s ancestral forest is rich in biodiversity, home to rare endemic species such as birds-of-paradise. Many of the plants found in the forest are also used by the community for various purposes, such as food, spice, medicine and construction.
“If our customary lands are entirely destroyed, everything will be lost — our biodiversity will vanish, and we as a people could face extinction,” Hendrikus told Mongabay. “Without our ancestral forest, our people cannot survive.”
Sekar of Greenpeace Indonesia said testimonies from Awyu individuals likely helped sway the Supreme Court judges in their ruling, as the tribe members “provided additional considerations related to forest conditions and their impact on the people.”
Battle’s not over yet
While the ruling spares the Awyu tribe’s ancestral forest from further destruction, it fails to recognize the rights of the Indigenous peoples to their land and forest.
This despite the Awyu tribe demanding the formal recognition of their rights in the proceedings, in which they served as intervening parties, said Tigor Gemdita Hutapea, another member of the Awyu tribe’s legal team.
“We wanted to send a message to the judges that this case is not just about licensing — it also involves Indigenous rights and environmental concerns,” he told Mongabay. “However, because the court classified the case strictly as a licensing dispute from the start, they focused only on the licensing aspects.”
As a result, the Awyu tribe is still at risk of being displaced from its ancestral land, Tigor said.
Instead of reallocating the forest to Indigenous communities, the government might give the concession to other business interests, leading to new companies entering the disputed areas.
Another legal battle brewing
In other parts of the Tanah Merah project, at least two new companies — PT Agro Subur Sejati (ASS) and PT Pertiwi Agro Mandiri (PAM) — have attempted to take control of some concessions, according to Tigor.
Both ASS and PAM have obtained licenses to two Tanah Merah concessions — PT Boven Digoel Budidaya Sentosa and PT Perkebunan Boven Digoel Sejahtera — which are part of the Digoel Agri group. Digoel Agri is a business conglomerate founded by the family of the late Ventje Rumangkang, a founder of Indonesia’s Democratic Party, but its majority shares have since been acquired by Australian company Gleneagle Securities.
Jones Rumangkang, the son of Ventje who used to be the spokesperson for the Digoel Agri group, told Mongabay last year that he exited the business in January 2024 after hearing that the investors behind the concessions wanted to pivot from the plantation business to carbon trading.
Then, in October 2024, the Digoel Agri group saw its licenses to the two concessions revoked by the local government and handed over to ASS and PAM. ASS reportedly began engaging with local communities in December 2024, making tali asih (“goodwill”) payments to at least three villages in the region, according to Hendrikus.
The Digoel Agri group then filed a lawsuit against the local government in an attempt to repeal the permit revocation.
This whole saga shows how legal uncertainty over land use and lack of legal recognition of Indigenous rights could lead to concessions being handed over from one company to another, with Indigenous communities continuing to be sidelined, Indigenous rights advocates say.
Hendrikus also pointed out that new companies like ASS dan PAM keep entering the scene to get a slice of the Tanah Merah pie despite a social media campaign successfully raising awareness about the plea of the Awyu tribe last year.
The campaign uses the hashtag #AllEyesonPapua, a riff on the #AllEyesonRafah hashtag used as a rallying cry to draw attention to Israeli attacks on civilian refuges in the southern Gaza city of Rafah last year.
It went viral, with the campaign poster shared nearly 3 million times on Instagram. The poster contains a link into an online petition that calls for the revocation of another oil palm concession that’s also part of the Tanah Merah project, PT Indo Asiana Lestari (IAL), which threatens to clear the ancestral forests of the Awyu tribe.
The petition has garnered more than 258,000 signatures, exceeding the campaigners’ initial goal of 200,000 signatures and nearing the new goal of 300,000.
In March 2023, the Awyu tribe filed a lawsuit against IAL at a court in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, seeking to overturn the company’s environmental permit. The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately found in favor of the company.
“Even though we have filed legal challenges and raised awareness on social media, this company [ASS] has appeared and started persuading the local people in its own way,” Hendrikus said.
That’s why the Indigenous communities now plan to apply for formal recognition of their rights with the local government using the December court ruling as the basis, Tigor said.
Without formal recognition, the Supreme Court ruling will not be able to fully protect the ancestral forest, Sekar said.
“Preserving the forest is good for the climate, but the problem is that the Awyu tribe loses the opportunity to manage the forest themselves. So, while it benefits the climate, it doesn’t benefit Indigenous communities,” she said. “The forest should be handed over to the Awyu people, but so far, that hasn’t happened.”
Banner image: Representatives of the Awyu and Moi Indigenous Peoples from West Papua visit the Supreme Court building in traditional dress, where they will hold prayers, rituals, as well as perform traditional dances in May 2024. They also bring a piece of their customary land as a symbol to be handed over to the Supreme Court.
Their demonstration will call on the Supreme Court to revoke the permits of two palm oil companies in Boven Digoel and Sorong which threaten customary forests, which in total cover more than half of Jakarta province. Papuan students and other civil society groups will also be present to support the struggle of the Awyu and Moi peoples. Image courtesy of © Jurnasyanto Sukarno / Greenpeace.
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