JAKARTA, Kaltimtoday.co – The Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) has once again taken action against mining activities illegally operating within forest areas.
The Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia Coalition emphasized that enforcement efforts will only be meaningful if they are carried out comprehensively against all parties involved, with full transparency and accountability.
PWYP Indonesia also urged the government to ensure that these enforcement measures result in the restoration of the affected areas as forests, rather than their conversion into new mining areas.
Previously, Satgas PKH announced its decision to take action against the illegal occupation of forest areas by companies affiliated with or controlled by businessman Arif Kurniawan (AK).
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that nickel is among the commodities targeted in the enforcement action against the network of related companies operating across Indonesia.
However, to date, Satgas PKH has yet to publicly disclose the list of companies involved, the total area affected, or details of the violations.
PWYP Indonesia considers this information essential to enable the public to monitor whether enforcement efforts genuinely cover the entire network.
AK is known as a businessman with a dominant position in the domestic nickel ore trading industry, holding interests in several mining concessions across various production centres.
One of the companies associated with him is PT Dua Delapan Resources, a shareholder in PT Tonia Mitra Sejahtera.
Civil society organization Satya Bumi previously raised concerns about the company over alleged deforestation in the protected forest area of Kabaena Island, a small island where mining activities are prohibited.
Satya Bumi also identified alleged connections between AK and several politically exposed persons (PEPs), including the wife of the Governor of Southeast Sulawesi and several retired police generals.
The PWYP Indonesia Coalition urged Satgas PKH to verify and publicly disclose whether these concessions, including those located on Kabaena Island, are included in the scope of the enforcement action.
PWYP Indonesia National Coordinator Aryanto Nugroho stated that the success of these enforcement measures must be assessed based on environmental protection interests and the principle that natural resources must be utilized to the greatest possible benefit of the people’s welfare.
“Amid the climate crisis and accelerating deforestation, nickel wealth as a critical mineral is increasingly vulnerable to becoming an arena for elite interests. Its presence must not be used to justify new extractivist practices, including under the pretext of National Strategic Projects or critical mineral allocations,” Aryanto said.
Aryanto stressed that any state repossession of forest areas must be fully oriented towards ecological restoration, rather than merely the acquisition of assets or the transfer of concession management to state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
PWYP Indonesia also criticized the repossession mechanism established under Presidential Regulation No. 5 of 2025, which is considered to focus primarily on asset control and state revenue without making ecological restoration a prerequisite.
“This mechanism opens the door for the continued utilization and exploitation of these areas after control is transferred from the previous operators to state-owned enterprises, without making ecological restoration a mandatory condition,” Aryanto said.
He added that this approach risks merely replacing the parties controlling the areas without addressing the environmental damage caused by mining activities.
Law enforcement efforts must also extend to beneficial owners, facilitators or backers, and smelting industries that receive illegally mined nickel ore.
Meanwhile, Satgas PKH plans to collect administrative fines and repossess assets, while referring suspected criminal offences to law enforcement authorities.
PWYP Indonesia researcher Adzkia Farirahman warned that the imposition of administrative fines must not be driven solely by the logic of increasing state revenue.
According to Government Regulation No. 45 of 2024, the collected fines are classified as Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) from administrative penalties in the relevant sectors.
“The main problem is the absence of a clear link between fine revenues and the financing of environmental restoration. Non-Tax State Revenue from administrative fines risks simply disappearing into the government’s general revenue,” Adzkia said.
Adzkia explained that the current PNBP framework does not provide a binding earmarking mechanism to ensure that the funds are allocated to specific locations and restoration plans.
She recommended that the government secure these sanction funds through the Environmental Fund Management Agency (BPDLH), ensuring that they are genuinely allocated to rehabilitating damaged ecosystems.
Furthermore, the formula for calculating administrative fines needs to be reformed by taking into account the typology of the affected areas, their ecological value, levels of vulnerability, and the total costs of restoration, in accordance with the polluter pays principle.
In response to these concerns, the PWYP Indonesia Coalition has put forward seven key demands addressed to the government and law enforcement authorities.
These demands include the regular disclosure of verification data, comprehensive law enforcement extending to beneficial owners and smelters, and revisions to the forest area repossession mechanism.
The government is also urged to impose a moratorium on new mining permits in areas subject to enforcement actions, designate reclaimed areas as forests requiring rehabilitation, implement earmarking of administrative fine revenues under the PNBP scheme, and improve the administrative sanction calculation formula.
Source: Kaltim Today