In the name of sustainability: Deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia

Tully McIntyre

Recently I visisted Malaysia and Indonesia, countries which host breathtaking 130 million year old rainforests, some of the oldest in the world. For the past three decades the forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate. This has mostly been due to the growing of rubber, cocoa and palm oil plantations − commonly coined "cash crops".

Palm oil plantations are the number one cash crop these days, as they have a high yield of oil which is exported globally and used in the manufacturing of products including foods, cooking oil, cosmetics, and biofuels. It is generally broken down to three different types − crude palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel meal.

In both Malaysia and Indonesia, plantation owners and mining companies are scrambling to log customary land. This development is welcomed by governments in both countries, and multinationals are seizing the opportunities presented by relaxed environmental laws and government corruption.

For local indigenous people there is a resemblance to the displacement of Australia's Indigenous people, who have been forced from land due to industry. Some sign over land in return for necessities like fresh water, power, schools, roads and small numbers of jobs.

More than 10 million hectares of forest have been converted to plantations in Indonesia in the past decade, with thousands of people displaced as a result. Many move to cities, exacerbating problems of overcrowding and poverty. The Indonesian government is forcing landless people from densely populated areas to areas of less population on other islands, and this 'transmigration' and is causing major conflicts with local indigenous groups in the provinces such as in Papua and Sulawesi.

Local indigenous people and their allies are increasingly fighting to protect customary lands. The resistance is strong and fearless, and the severity of militant action taken against demonstrators is extremely harsh with many environmental defenders being beaten, threatened, murdered or thrown in prison.

At a demonstration on January 29, Indonesian police responded to the peaceful demonstration organised by environmental activists and farmers in Palembang, South Sumatera, by beating and brutalising Anwar Sadat, director of the South Sumatera chapter of WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia). They then arrested him, along with 25 others from the office of WALHI and the Sriwijaya Farmers Union, and charged them with assault.

Anwar was charged with violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code for assault against police, although this was never proven. He was sentenced to seven months in prison and is still in prison today (early July). This is only one instance of hundreds of cases over the past couple of years.

The Indonesian government would like to be seen to be acting in a positive way on forest protection − in May 2010 it signed an agreement to protect 65 million hectares of primary forest from developers. The moratorium to cease felling of primary forest for development has been extended for another two years from May 2013. However forest destruction continues within and beyond the moratorium area.

Forest fires

In June, fire fighters in the Riau regency of central Sumatra struggled to contain more than 16,500 hectares of peat swamp forest fires that have been blamed on shifting cultivating farmers and palm oil companies.

According to Greenpeace forest campaigner Yuyu Indradi: "We found 50% of the fires to be inside the moratorium area, mostly in the peatlands." He also said: "In the moratorium area it is clearly the government's responsibility to protect the forest. This is industrial scale burning. It is easy to find out who is behind it."

Burning areas in Riau overlap concession areas of primary forest. So far eight farmers have been arrested and 14 palm oil companies are being investigated over the fire. Smoke pollution from the fires has been shifting to the east of Sumatra, smothering Singapore and southern areas of Malaysia, with cities reaching record levels of pollution since 2007. The situation is forcing schools to close and local residents to stay in their homes.

The governments of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have been exchanging blame over the fires. Malaysian companies, with head offices in Singapore, may be responsible for the fires. Malaysian owned company Sime Darby Berhad is one of the largest palm oil companies and is currently being investigated over the fires; it operates large areas of plantations in Sumatra. Wilmar International is another Malaysian company which is being accused of responsibility for the fires.

Theses devastating forest fires occur annually in the dry season from June to September, and are generally believed to be deliberately lit to drain and clear peat forests to make way for plantations. Peat fires of this scale haven't been seen in Sumatra since 2007. In that year, Indonesia was tagged the third largest producer of global greenhouse emissions, after the US and China, with deforestation and the burning of peat forests responsible for a significant fraction of total national emissions.

Irhash Ahmady of WALHI said "unfortunately once again the issue of the environment is used for the benefit of foreign monopoly with millions of hectares of oil palm development depriving the people". Irhash, who is also manager of Knowledge and Networks, says the state has set a target of 20 million hectares of oil palm plantations to be developed by 2020. This will threaten food sovereignty.

Today Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil and Malaysia is not far behind, with China being the largest importer of the final product.

Greenwash

The common 'greenwash' terms of sustainability and renewable energy are used in both Indonesia and Malaysia by companies and governments. Sarawak, a state of Borneo that has well over 100,000 hectares of palm oil plantations, is also facing questionable development via a program called SCORE − Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy. SCORE is a US$105 billion state government initiative to produce large-scale energy to lure energy-intensive industries such as aluminum smelters.

Native customary rights are once again being forgotten, as large areas of land are being logged or inundated to make way for new projects. One SCORE program is focussed on the development of mega hydroelectric dams. The now completed 2,500 megawatt Bukan dam project near Belaga is the second largest hydro project in the world after the Three Gorges dam in China. The Bukan dam project forced the migration of close to 10,000 indigenous Dayak people out of the area in 1999.

On visiting the Iban tribe of the Rajang river and speaking to the head man of the tribe, he spoke about the government proposing to build a road and supply power if they would lease their land to a palm oil company for plantations. The head man, who sits on a committee of local men of the area, was seeking legal advice on the proposal. Twelve more dams are under the development or planning phase across the state and the states minister Taib Mahmud is being investigated on corruption issues.

Tully McIntyre is an International Liaison Officer with Friends of the Earth, Australia.