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Newsletter articles

DTE's quarterly newsletter provides information on ecological justice in Indonesia.

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The Bahasa Indonesia list offers links to selected articles from each newsletter issue.

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DTE publications

Pulp & paper heading for trouble

Down to Earth No. 48, February 2001


The pulp industry in Indonesia is financially, socially and ecologically unsustainable, but the Indonesian government, local authorities and investors alike are failing to take responsibility.

Indonesia has prided itself on being one of the world's lowest cost producers of paper pulp. Foreign investors have supported the growth of this industry, despite its reliance on the destruction of natural forests and illegal logging for raw materials.

In Brief... DTE 48 - February 2001

Down to Earth No 48 February 2001

CIFOR researcher's body found in Aceh mass grave

A mass grave, containing 14 bodies was uncovered in Terbangan, Kluet Selatan, South Aceh in January. One has been identified as a researcher with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Bandung.

Three young researchers from CIFOR and a member of the Gunung Leuser national park management, disappeared in September 1999. The corpses of three women from Medan in neighbouring North Sumatra province were also found in the grave.

Aceh: ecological war zone

Down to Earth No. 47, November 2000

Natural resources are one of the main factors underlying the independence struggle in Aceh, but decades of plunder have left them severely depleted.

The brutal murder of the internationally known Acehnese human rights activist, Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, reminded the world in September that the northern-most tip of Sumatra remains a dangerous place. Despite a 'humanitarian pause' signed by Indonesia and Acehnese independence leaders in June this year, the murders, disappearances and torture have continued.

Villagers shot, one killed in Sosa land dispute

Down to Earth No. 47, November 2000

On 25 August 2000, police shot indiscriminately into a crowd of people gathered outside the factory gates of oil palm company PT Permata Hijau Sawit (PT PHS) in Mananti village, Sosa sub-district, South Tapanuli, killing eighteen year old Febriadi Nasution. Thirty-three people were later arrested, 15 of whom are currently standing trial, charged with various criminal damage offences.

Displaced villagers win back land

Down to Earth No. 45, May 2000

Villagers in South Sumatra have successfully regained some of their forest which the government had allocated as a plantation concession to PT Musi Hutan Persada (PT MHP). The Department of Forestry and Plantations has agreed to hand 12,050 ha back to the former inhabitants of 12 villages in the sub-district of Rambang Lubai.

Protests at PT TEL pulp plant

Down to Earth No. 44, February 2000

Community anger is being directed at the newly completed plant in South Sumatra

The PT TEL paper pulp factory at Muara Enim, South Sumatra was completed in November 1999 and started production trials in December with a view to full production by January 2000.

Environment minister recommends Indorayon closure

Down to Earth No. 44, February 2000

The people of Porsea and environmental groups were delighted by Environment Minister Sonny Keraf's recommendation to the Cabinet on January 18th that PT Inti Indorayon's paper pulp and rayon fibre plant should be closed down or relocated. But their ten-year struggle against the pollution caused by this factory near Lake Toba in North Sumatra is far from over.