Two weeks ago, a group of inspectors from Indonesia’s Environment Ministry were investigating possible illegal burnings on land held by PT Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL) oil palm plantation company in Rokan Hulu, Riau province. In the course of their investigation, the government says the team was detained by a mob of up to 100 men who held them for about 12 hours and threatened to burn them alive and dump their bodies in the plantation’s river. The inspectors were only released after police got involved and the government officials agreed to delete all of their data implicating the company.
The government has stated bluntly that they believe that APSL hired the mob to intimidate the government inspectors. They have also stated that investigations into the company would be one of their top priorities in their war against haze-causing forest fires.
Although the inspector’s data was deleted to secure their release, new drone footage from Indonesian Environmental NGO Eyes on the Forest (EofF) strongly implicates APSL as being involved with the intentional setting of forest fires to clear land for palm oil plantations on their concession.
Using drones, EotF surveyed 10,000 hectares of APSL’s concession that had registered as hotspots in satellite imagery. The video footage shows enormous areas of burnt forests and peat surrounding area that is actively being used by APSL for palm oil plantations.
This evidence will hopefully add fuel to the government’s investigation against the company, which has become emblematic of the dirty tactics and reckless behavior utilized by many palm oil companies which have led to one of the greatest environmental disasters in history that may have prematurely killed up to 100,000 people last year.
