After a two-month-long investigation, environmental NGO the Hutan Rakyat Institute, says it has found that a '€œcolonial labor system'€ that violates workers'€™ rights is being practiced on oil palm estates certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The investigation, disclosed in a 39-page report released on Thursday, revealed across-the-board neglect of RSPO principles and criteria on three sanctioned RSPO oil palm estates in North Sumatra.

Founder Saurlin Siagian said the three plantations '€” identified as B in Asahan regency, and L and LN in Langkat regency '€” were monitored from September to October.

Saurlin said the investigation had uncovered several violations of workers rights on the plantations.

These included missing work engagement documentation between workers and plantation companies, inadequate protection for female workers, child labor, wages that do not meet decent living standards and unsafe working conditions.

'€œThese violations prove that those RSPO members failed to implement the principles of sustainability, but rather continue to use colonial labor practices,'€ Saurlin said in a press conference on Thursday.

He said the investigation had not sought to attack RSPO members, but rather to prove whether or not they had been fulfilling their obligations on labor rights.

'€œWe are concerned that some RSPO members don'€™t care about workers'€™ rights, even though many parties consider the RSPO to be an advanced mechanism for building principles and criteria that protect workers,'€ he said.

Agustinus Karlo Lumbanraja, from Sawit Watch, said there were 35 complaints regarding oil palm plantation activities that residents had lodged with the RSPO, including on environmental degradation, orangutan killings and land seizures. Karlo said that some of these complaints involved PT London Sumatra (Lonsum), state plantation firm PTPN III and PT Sinar Mas.

'€œSo far, the RSPO has resolved four of the 35 issues,'€ he said after the launch of the book The Palm Oil Sector at the Crossroads on Thursday.

Former RSPO member Norman Jiwan, who currently serves as Indonesia Transformation for Justice executive director, confirmed that many public complaints had been lodged with the RSPO regarding violations committed by some of its members.

Lonsum and PTPN III denied such allegations, dismissing them as baseless rumors.

Lonsum head of public relations Anggoro Santoso said such claims had become common but that it was impossible for the company to violate RSPO standard criteria after having been certified in 2007.

'€œIf we were violating RSPO standard criteria, how could we acquire the RSPO certification? It is not easy to get the certification because we have to fulfill all the requirements set by the RSPO,'€ he said.

'€œWe are also being audited by independent agencies.'€

PTPN III public relations chief Irwadi Lubis said the company had received its certification in 2010 after meeting various requirements, such as obtaining the necessary licenses and permits, being free of conflicts with the community and upholding the rights of workers, such as paying them the minimum wage.

He also denied allegations that the state plantation company was still implementing a labor system from the colonial era or that there were child workers on its plantations.

'€œIf there are children working at PTPN III'€™s plantations, they are working under the orders of their own parents, not under the company,'€ he said.

PT Sinar Mas refused to respond to the allegations when The Jakarta Post contacted the company at its office in Medan.

Popular

Indonesia not affected by Southeast Asia-wide heat wave: BMKG

Residents fear for safety as Mount Ruang volcano erupts

In defense of Indonesian democracy