MADANI Berkelanjutan, a civil society organization is welcoming a presidential instruction on the National Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil Plantation but is calling on a number of improvements, including a better accountability in permit issuance, better transparency in data related to permits and the settlement of the status of plantations in forest areas.
In a breakfast meeting with the media on Tuesday (18/2), Madani Berkelanjutan unveiled its analysis of the national action plan that is now also known as RAN KSB and which was issued in December last year, and came out with five recommendations.
It began by saying that the presidential instruction is not yet targeting the three main problems in the palm oil management system as has been identified by the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK), that is accountability of the control system in the issuance of oil palm plantation permits, the ineffectiveness of control over the palm oil export duty and the not yet optimal levying of tax in the palm oil sector, a copy of the analysis received by The Palm Scribe showed.
“RAN KSB must be improved so that it can reflect the efforts to improve the mechanism for permits for oil palm plantation as is being recommended by the KPK,” the analysis said, further saying that it could do so by building an integral, transparent and open information system that could be monitored by the public.
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It could also put spatial zoning, environmental and land tenure considerations into the requirements for permits issuance. Building a system to reconcile data on export levy and actual export of palm oil, cross checking data on plantation permits and data on tax payers, and a better enforcement of the law against tax violators, were also recommended.
Madani said that the presidential instruction was not yet reflecting transparency as one of the pillars of good management and therefore improving transparency should become one of the focus of RAN KSB. It also said that the process of the settlement of oil palm plantations in forest should particularly be made public “to minimalize the risks of corruption and abuse of authority.”
Madani also called for a strengthening of law enforcement in preventing forest and ground fires, and insist on the participation of all sides in implementing the RAN KSB in a synergy.
“The effectivity and strength of the RAN KSB in transforming the management of oil palm plantations to become more sustainable hinges on the synergy and participation of all sides, not only at the ministerial/institutional elvel but also with business planes and other elements of the society,” the analysis said.
Last, Madani in its analysis recommended that since the RAN KSB was only for the 2019-2024 period in line with the term in office of President Joko Widodo, there was the need for a strategy so that the RAN KSB could be continued beyond that period and under the upcoming governments.