Deal #185

*Local communities strongly protested. They could not accept the fact that they could only participate in the oil palm scheme by giving up further land to PTPN XIII aside from the land they had already given up.

*The government tried to overcome community objections by various means but the community continued to voice its sense of injustice, notably through demonstrations, and rejected the scheme. In the face of the persistent protests, the government finally changed its policy by carrying out an oil palm plantations project exclusively for local community smallholders yet the bad relationship between the government (including PTPN XIII) and local communities persists.

*In May 2010, three members - two women and one man - of Anbera Hamlet were arrested, tried and convicted for the theft of 60 kg of palm kernels (worth approximately US$ 7).

Partially promised compensation was not received *Since the handing over of their customary land to PTPN XIII over 20 years ago, there are still families who surrendered their land but have not yet received their promised smallholder plots (White and White, 2011).

*PT Perkebunan Nusantara XIII (PTPN XIII) handed back 279 plots (parcels) of certificates of plasma farmers that were paid off credit in Paser Regency, East Kalimantan in May 2017.

Partially promised compensation was not received

*The accused villagers in May 2010 obtained legal assistance from a local NGO and the case caught the attention of West Kalimantan’s Regional Representatives of National People’s Representative Council, with the assistance from one of DPD members who even sent a Note of Protest to the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (as PTPN XIII is a state-owned company).