Forest Area Regulation Based on Presidential Decree Number 2/2025, Will It Lead to Nationalization?

President Prabowo Subianto established the Forest Area Regulation Task Force, or Satgas PKH, based on Presidential Regulation Number 5 of 2025 concerning the Regulation of Forest Areas, which was issued on January 21, 2025. The aim is to restore forest areas that have been misused to their original function. Two months have passed—what is the progress of the task force's achievements?

Until the end of March 2025, the work of the PKH Task Force has shown results. As of March 23, 2025, the PKH Task Force has recorded and verified forest area objects to be reclaimed. Based on the available maps, the land covers an area of 1,177,194.34 hectares, with 1,001,674.14 hectares already reclaimed. These lands are spread across 9 provinces, 64 regencies, and within the concession areas of 369 companies.

Of the land already controlled by the PKH Task Force, a total of 221,868.421 hectares was handed over to PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero) on March 10, 2025. The land was previously controlled by the Duta Palma Group.

As reported, the owner of Duta Palma Group, Surya Darmadi, is a convict in a corruption case involving the illegal transfer of land in Riau Province. Then, on March 26, 2025, the PKH Task Force handed over 216,997.75 hectares of land once again.

The Head of the PKH Task Force, who is also the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Attorney General's Office, Febrie Adriansyah, stated in a press release on Wednesday (26/3/2025) that his team is conducting verification with the assistance of geospatial technology as well as coordination across ministries and related institutions. The verification aims to differentiate between land with official permits and land that is illegally occupied.

"The state possesses a territorial map, studied by Geospatial authorities, then further examined, verified, and assisted by the Garuda Task Force to determine which coordinates belong to the state and are controlled by unauthorized parties, which ones are legally occupied, as well as the legal measures that will be taken against the violations identified," said Febrie.

Febrie confirmed that the actions taken by the PKH Task Force are not a form of nationalization but rather the recovery of state assets that have been used without permission. He claimed that every enforcement step is carried out transparently, through a clear legal process, and takes into account the socio-economic impact on the community.

Therefore, according to Febrie, there will be no layoffs for employees of affected companies. The government is committed to ensuring that workers' rights in the plantation sector remain protected.

The PKH Task Force consists of directors and implementers. For directors, the Minister of Defense sits as Chair accompanied by the Attorney General, the TNI Commander, and the Chief of Police as Deputy Chair. As implementers, the Chair of the Task Force is occupied by the Attorney General's Office's Jampidsus accompanied by the TNI Chief of General Staff, the Head of the National Police's General Criminal Investigation Agency, and the Deputy for Investigation, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

Febrie said that the PKH Task Force will only target forest areas controlled by parties illegally or without permission. In fact, the government through Article 110 a and 110 b of the Job Creation Law has given the opportunity to these parties to manage land that was previously controlled without permission or illegally.

"It turns out, they also did not take the path that the state had provided. They still took it, there were palm oil (plantation) businesses, acacia (plantation) businesses, there were mining businesses in forest areas. The state has an interest in maintaining this," said Febrie.

In the verification process, the government separates between plantation businesses that already have permits and those that do not have permits based on coordinates. For unlicensed land, the land is returned to the state to be re-registered at the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Forestry.

The state has a regional map, researched by Geospatial, then researched again, verified, assisted by the Garuda Task Force to determine which coordinate points belong to the state and are controlled by these unauthorized parties, which they do control legally, as well as the legal steps that will be taken against violations found.

For land that has been controlled and recorded, it is the authority of the Ministry of Forestry to determine its continuation. It could be that the land will be returned to a forest area or if it is in the form of an oil palm plantation, it will be managed by the government.

"Well, this is the government's policy, the establishment of Agrinas Palma, which includes PTPN colleagues who help in strategic sectors for plantation management," said Febrie.

As quoted from the official website of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero), the company was previously named PT Indra Karya which was engaged in the engineering consulting services sector. Then, the BUMN changed its name to PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero) based on the Decree of the Minister of Law Number AHU-0012457.AH.01.02 dated February 21, 2025 and is engaged in the construction and plantation consulting sector.

On that occasion, Deputy Head of BPKP Agustina Arumsari said, the PHK Task Force rechecked the data that had previously been obtained based on the Ciptaker Law. The data was rechecked, including being checked directly at the location by the TNI.

"So, it was the TNI friends who then led the way to the location, checked whether it was still there, whether it was controlled by the people and so on. So this has been a long process," said Agustina.

For land that has not been handed over to Agrinas, according to Febrie, his party will process it in stages. He will also communicate and cooperate with the company in the process. If later there is a violation of the law or a criminal act, it will be processed legally.

"It is still being seen between the evidence in the construction of the criminal case and what are the government policies in the Presidential Decree. If this falls within the qualifications of the Presidential Decree, then it will be subject to the Presidential Decree," said Febrie.

Director of Legal Advocacy and Human Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) Muhammad Arman, when contacted on Wednesday (2/4/2025), was of the view that Presidential Regulation 5/2025 is considered a form of "forest statehood" or a territorialization effort that is oriented towards state control without considering the principle of social justice. The regulation also has the potential to ignore and violate the rights of indigenous peoples who have long inhabited an area categorized as a forest area.

This militaristic approach raises concerns about widespread evictions, criminalization and violations of indigenous peoples' rights.

The regulation, Arman continued, also has the potential to become a tool for criminalizing indigenous people living in forest areas. Moreover, the presidential regulation also regulates the formation of a task force involving law enforcement officers, including the military.

"This militaristic approach raises concerns about widespread evictions, criminalization and violations of indigenous peoples' rights," said Arman.

Therefore, Arman said, his party hopes that the President will evaluate and revise Presidential Regulation 5/2025, especially regarding articles that have the potential to violate the rights of indigenous peoples. His party also asked the President not to involve the military or apply a militaristic approach in the land management process in the forest area.

Separately, the Chairman of the Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) Julius Ibrani is of the view that the forest area clearing was carried out without a clear legal process. This is because, even though they have seized a lot of land from hundreds of companies, the legal process that was then taken was not explained, including announcing who the suspects were.

According to Julius, land acquisition without transparency and clear legal processes is prone to abuse. Reflecting on past experiences, it is not impossible that the land that has been controlled will then be exploited for other things, such as coal mining or taking its wood.

"It should be remembered that in Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Agrarian Principles, the strongest basis for land ownership is land control. Therefore, that is what the state does first. For that, the state places defense and security tools, namely the TNI and Polri," explained Julius.

Presidential Decree 5/2025 has been rolled out. Millions of hectares of land have been obtained and will continue to be sought. Will the concerns of some groups become a reality?