Better Oversight on the Oil Palm Fund Needed

The Oil Palm Plantation Funds Management Agency (BPDPKS) has not violated any rule with regards to it use. Established as a public service agency, it has a free hand to use the funds as it deems necessary. But it is precisely this free hand that is raising questions, such as mis-targeted allocations which could undermine the very objective of the Fund's establishment.

The allocation of the Fund, a collection of levies on oil product exports and annual fees from oil palm plantation companies, has come under scrutiny. A major portion of the Fundsa whopping Rp3.26 trillion out of Rp9.7 trillioncollected from July 2015 to March 2016, had been dispensed to biofuel companies, not to render the oil palm plantation industry more sustainable.