The corruption in the permits for oil palm plantations committed by the owner of PT Duta Palma, Surya Darmadi, not only has an impact on state losses but also on the livelihoods of the Talang Mamak Indigenous People who live there.

“The saying goes that the Talang Mamak people, they want to kill Talang Mamak people so that they can annexe the Talang Mamak lands,” said Gilung, a member of Kaoem Telapak who also serves as Chair of the Regional Board of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (PD AMAN) Indragiri Hulu, Riau, on Thursday, January 19, 2023, at the event media briefing organized by the National Walhi.

Gilung said that the Talang Mamak Indigenous People were the group most affected by the forestry corruption committed by Surya Darmadi. The conflict between the oil palm corporation and the Talang Mamak Indigenous People started in 1996. According to Gilung, the indigenous people did not understand what was happening in their ancestral territory at that time. Suddenly, oil palm plantations appeared in their ancestral domain.

Before 1996, Indigenous Peoples’ lives were relatively happier. “The forest is still there. People can find fish, rattan, resin, and durian,” said Gilung. Now the living space for Indigenous Peoples is challenging. Indigenous peoples have difficulty getting into their lands because they already belong to oil palm corporations.

In addition, biodiversity loss due to large-scale monoculture plantations also makes Indigenous Peoples vulnerable to disease because many medicinal plant species are lost. “The Talang Mamak lost a lot. Rivers, forests, and culture were gone. Traditional medicines vanished. Only less than a hundred species of them remain,” said Gilung.