Saving Rp370 Trillion and Upholding National Dignity in Forest Areas
Consistent law enforcement is the key. Without the integrity of the apparatus, laws will merely be a string of powerless words.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - In state governance, natural wealth is one of the main pillars of national sovereignty. However, Indonesia’s long history of forest management is often marked by darkness, depicting how this nation’s “treasure trove” has been systematically plundered for years.
Now is the time to sue. At the Attorney General’s Office Complex of the Republic of Indonesia, President Prabowo Subianto attended the handover of administrative fines and the reclamation of forest areas in stage VI. This moment serves as a marker of uncovering crimes while igniting new hope for improving natural resource governance.
The President explicitly expressed high appreciation to the Forest Area Regulation Task Force (Satgas PKH) for successfully reclaiming part of the state’s wealth that had long “leaked” from the forestry sector, valued at Rp370 trillion.
The Rp370 trillion figure is an accumulation of various components: administrative fines, the reclamation of 1.2 million hectares of land, and the recovery of outstanding Forest Resource Provision and Reforestation Fund (PSDH-DR) bills that had evaporated over the years.
The total value of Rp370 trillion is equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN). If managed with integrity, such funds have the potential to transform food security, close budget deficits, drive educational progress, and ensure healthcare services reach even the remotest areas of the country.
The fact that such a massive amount was “stolen” through unauthorised forest utilisation serves as a harsh slap to the weakness of the oversight system to date.
The salvation of state assets forms part of the movement against oligarchs to uphold economic sovereignty. This could be the opening act of a grand orchestration of regulating illegal land across various agrarian conflict hotspots, from Sumatra, Kalimantan, to Papua.
The Satgas PKH’s task is no easy administrative job. They often stand on the front lines, facing land mafias and rogue corporations that seem to possess legal “immunity.” President Prabowo also acknowledged these threats, ranging from intimidation to attempts at criminalisation against task force members.
The pattern is that when the interests of illegal investors are disrupted, they use legal instruments to counter-report the apparatus. This form of criminalisation is often experienced by several law enforcement officials, and some even deploy physical force in the field to obstruct the execution process.