Food Estate Environmental Crimes

FOR a politician such as Hasto Kristiyanto, any matter can be easily praised and rebuffed in a short time frame. The Secretary-General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) out of the blue took issue with the food estate project of the Jokowi government, only a year after he praised it in another occasion.

After the Indonesia World Record Museum award ceremony granted to the PDI-P in Ciawi, West Java, on August 15, Hasto accused the food estate program as a failed project that had decimated forestry to make way for cassava plantations. He even called the project a crime against the environment.

In a matter of a mere 394 days, Hasto did a 180 degree turnaround, from fervent supporter to harsh critic of the national strategic program launched in July 2020. At the 10th Kebangsaan Community Service Program lecture event in the Palangka Raya University on July 17, 2022, Hasto had proclaimed full support of the food estate program and uttered appreciation to the soldiers of the Indonesian Military for going out into the field to plant cassavas in the Gunung Mas forest in Central Kalimantan.

Indeed, Hasto made no mention of any wrongdoer in the project. But it is not difficult to figure out that he was pointing his finger to one of the persons in charge of the food estate in Central Kalimantan, namely Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto. Thus, Hasto’s accusation that the food estate program is environmentally criminal can be deduced as a political attack against Jokowi and Prabowo in one go.

Hasto’s attack comes alongside President Jokowi’s ongoing support of Prabowo as a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election, instead of putting his weight behind Ganjar Pranowo, his colleague in the PDI-P. Prabowo has the support of more political parties compared to Ganjar. His electability rating also continues to outshine Ganjar’s, which has remained stagnant since his declaration on April 21.

Indeed, if Hasto really cared about the environmental damage wrought by the food estate program, why then are he and other PDI-P politicians only now waking up to the fact? Where were they when the media, including an investigation by this magazine in October 2021, disclosed facts that Prabowo Subianto’s food estate program was decimating the forests of Central Kalimantan while the cassava nurseries were failing to produce? Three villages around the food estate vicinity were inundated when rainfall occurred. 

Neither did the project only damage the environment. It is also riddled with conflict of interest. Aside from using soldiers to execute the project, program implementation is by Agro Industri Nasional (Agrinas). This company was founded by the Defense Ministry Employee Foundation, managed by Gerindra Party politicians and military personnel at the behest of Prabowo.

If the food estate project in Gunung Mas is continued, environmental damage will definitely worsen. Some 2,000 hectares of the food estate landholdings were originally residential areas, community rubber plantations, public cemeteries, and private housing owned by certificate holders. Some 18,000 hectares of the food estate landholdings also constitute the habitat of the endangered and protected Kalimantan orang utan.

Now, with the 2024 General Elections coming up in five months, the food estate project has become a political hot potato easily lobbed by politicians such as Hasto and friends to discredit their political opponents. Environmental damage caused by the food estate is a fact. But making use of the issue for political purposes only shows how politicians do not give whit about hastily-planned half-baked government programs that cause harm and damage.