Palm oil firm from Jambi, Indonesia
PT Asiatic Persada is a palm oil firm from Jambi, Indonesia. It was founded in 1979.[1] Its oil palm plantations spread over an area of approximately 270 square kilometres (100 sq mi).[2] Wilmar International has sold PT Asiatic Persada due to its alleged involvement in land grabs.[3]
The forest of Bungku village was cleared for giant palm oil plantations of PT Asiatic Persada in the mid-1980s.[4] In the following years, the company’s bulldozers illegally claimed a further 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) of rain forest — an area about half the size of Berlin, including areas for which indigenous peoples held guaranteed land rights.[5] Ganda Group, owned by Ganda Sitorus, the younger brother of Martua Sitorus, the co-founder of Wilmar International, bought PT Asiatic Persada in 2013.[6] In the same year, the governor of Jambi urged officials to review PT Asiatic Persada’s license because of violations of the law.[7] Copies of the letter were also sent to the Justice Ministry and the national police chief.[8]
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