Ecological Disaster in Sumatra: State’s Total Subservience to Capital Interests
Many agree that the flash floods and landslides that occurred in three provinces in Sumatra were not natural disasters, but rather ecological ones. Nature cannot be solely blamed when the State's political decisions caused these disasters, rendering them unmanageable and costing thousands of lives.
When the disaster struck the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra in late November, many people, including children and the elderly, had to survive for days on their rooftops without food and water, waiting for evacuation. According to data as of December 20, 2025, 1,090 people had died, 186 are still missing, and 510,528 are living in evacuation centers. Previously, four villages in Aceh had been declared lost. All of this can be seen as the result of a series of political decisions by the State that are increasingly revealing their true colors.
The environmental NGO, WALHI North Sumatra, stated that at least seven companies should be held primarily responsible for the environmental damage that caused this ecological disaster. According to WALHI North Sumatra, the extractive industry practices of these seven companies have caused damage to the Batang Toru Ecosystem in the North Sumatra Province, the last remaining stretch of forest there. The damage has resulted in the continued erosion of this ecosystem's hydrological buffer zone.
The existence of these seven companies, including the environmental damage resulting from their extractive industry exploitation practices, is inextricably linked to the role of the State as their licensing authority. And these practices certainly haven't occurred in just a day or two; they've been going on for who knows how long. Within the framework of human rights, there are two types of violations that the State can commit: direct violations or by commission, and indirect violations or by omission. The latter type of violation generally involves negligence, and that's what the State has committed in this context.
Deforestation has become a topic of criticism by civil society movements regarding how the state manages the environment. The brutal clearing of forests to make way for oil palm plantations has been widely criticized. On one occasion, Prabowo, as Head of State, stated that there was no need to worry about deforestation, because, according to him, "oil palm trees are also trees, they have leaves." It was a remarkably foolish statement for a president to make, comparing forests to vast plantations planted with only one type of crop (monoculture), especially when the crop in question lacks the ability to absorb water and protect the soil from landslides.
However, this stupidity apparently makes sense for a country that defends palm oil in such a way for a reason: total subservience to the interests of capital.
In 2022 alone, data from the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) showed that of all palm oil businesses in Indonesia, palm oil companies accounted for 0.07% of the land they controlled, accounting for approximately 54.52%. Meanwhile, approximately 41.35% of the land area was managed by smallholders. The remainder was managed by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This data demonstrates the stark disparity in palm oil concessions. Large capitalists were allocated more than half of the total available palm oil land, while smallholders were allocated far less than 50%.
According to data from the National Palm Oil Map released by the Geospatial Information Agency, the total area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia reached 17.3 million hectares in 2023 alone. This data indicates that more than 8.5 million hectares of the land is controlled by a very few companies, including the Arsari Group, owned by Hasjim Djojohadikusumo, the younger brother of President Prabowo.
Beyond the unequal distribution of oil palm concessions, these palm oil companies also engage in practices that marginalize human rights and are rife with massive environmental exploitation. For example, in 2024, WALHI revealed that one of Indonesia's largest palm oil companies, Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), frequently committed environmental and governance violations, such as illegal oil palm planting within Indonesian forest areas.
In its findings, WALHI stated that 17 oil palm concessions owned by AAL subsidiaries overlapped with 17,664 hectares of Indonesian forest areas. Furthermore, WALHI also stated that 1,100 hectares of oil palm plantations managed by AAL were illegal, and three AAL subsidiaries operated without permits. They also frequently intimidated human rights defenders in the environmental sector.
Unequal ownership of oil palm plantations, poor implementation practices, and the environmental impacts that have occurred have not yet led to better decision-making by the government. In fact, Prabowo recently called for the opening of new oil palm plantations in Papua. This statement demonstrates a truly malice and barbaric political stance, amidst a disaster that has yet to be properly resolved. Thousands of victims have died, hundreds remain missing, and millions more have been affected, as if it were still not enough.
Not Enough Victims to Declare a National Disaster
"These are 3 provinces (affected) out of 38 (in Indonesia). So, the situation is under control," Prabowo said in a public statement in response to calls from affected victims and the public for the disaster in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra to be declared a national disaster. Using the same approach, the more than a thousand people who have died are only seen as "1,090 out of 270,000,000 residents." If human lives are only viewed quantitatively, how many more lives are needed for this situation to be declared a national disaster?
The question was certainly rhetorical, expressing anger—or even frustration—over the government's insistence on refusing to declare this disaster a national disaster, despite the fact that so many affected victims, especially in Aceh Province, have yet to receive any significant assistance from the State.
Even after three weeks, several journalistic reports reported that many victims were still struggling to eat. Children are starving. The victims stated that they were still living with limited means to meet their daily needs, not to mention the difficulty of access, damaged infrastructure, connecting roads, limited electricity, and communication signals. One report describing the hardships of victims in Aceh Tamiang, the worst-affected area in Aceh Province, was subsequently taken down. Many suspect there was State pressure on the press institution.
From the beginning, the victims received assistance from the solidarity of people from across Indonesia. Various parties worked together to collect donations and distribute them to disaster areas. This aid was initiated entirely by the community. Many people also became involved as humanitarian volunteers. Significantly, this mutual aid truly impacted the victims' survival, as they realized that the State could not be relied upon.
Amidst the limited living needs experienced by the victims due to the slow action of the State, which has made the victims dependent on solidarity among people, the State instead views this solidarity among people as a threat and then complicates the procedure by issuing a statement that any aid or donation initiated by the people must first obtain permission from the government. This is accompanied by the central government's rejection of aid from the international community. In several news reports, Prabowo stated that Indonesia does not need aid when asked by several other heads of state about the disaster. In fact, the government even said it would return 30 tons of rice aid from the United Arab Emirates, although the government later stated that the aid would be distributed to the victims.
The alleged suppression of news about the current situation experienced by victims in Aceh, the State's insistence on not recognizing this situation as a national disaster, the President's statement to the international community that the government does not need assistance in handling the disaster that occurred, to the implementation of permits for people who want to raise aid and donations, can be seen in the nuances of the State wanting to maintain the image that the situation is still fine, even though thousands of people have died, hundreds of people are still missing and have not been found until now, thousands of houses have been damaged, hundreds of thousands of residents have been affected and are living in camps, and many of them are still living with limited daily needs after the disaster.
The suffering of the victims is ignored. Lives are seen as mere numbers. The State does all this only to create the impression: everything is under control and the national situation is stable.
National Stability: The Reason for Recurring State Crimes
If national stability is indeed the reason, then State crimes occurring throughout the entire series of disasters, from their causes to their response, are not surprising. Throughout the history of the Republic, the phrase "national stability" has almost always been the reason behind numerous State crimes over the past decades.
The New Order regime under Suharto's leadership is recorded as having committed dozens of gross human rights violations, many of which were carried out to build an image of "national stability." The massacre of 500,000 - 3,000,000 people considered affiliated with the Indonesian Communist Party and its underbouw organisations in 1965 - 1966, for example, was carried out to eradicate Suharto's political enemies. Shortly afterward, when the situation was declared stable, Freeport signed a contract to invest in Indonesia, paving the way for the continued exploitation of natural resources in Papua, which continues to this day.
In the mid-1980s, the same regime carried out a large-scale killing operation against individuals who were considered as criminals. Without any proof of their crimes, individuals with tattoos and long hair were murdered. Their bodies littered the streets. Some sources state that the number of victims ranged from 2,000 to 8,000. This incident is known as the Mysterious Shooting (Penembakan Misterius or Petrus), and its main aim is to create national stability, which makes national security or order a prerequisite.
In 1989, the New Order regime again massacred a group of people considered Islamists in Talangsari, Lampung. The state viewed their beliefs as disruptive to political stability, as they did not align with the State's sole interpretation of Pancasila, the supposedly sole State ideology. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recorded 130 deaths.
The three cases above are just a few of the many crimes committed by the state in its efforts to maintain national stability. For more details, please read the previous article on this website. These crimes persist despite changes in government. For the State, national stability must be defended to the death, as it is an absolute prerequisite for investment, or in other words, capital.
The White Flag
On December 18, 2025, several community groups in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh Province, held a demonstration waving the white flag. For days prior, people in various cities across Aceh Province had been waving white flags in many places.
For the people in Aceh, the raising of the white flag is a sign of their exhaustion and their need for assistance. Three weeks had passed, and they still had not received adequate basic necessities. Amidst the poor handling of aid due to the severed transportation network, the waving of white flags in many areas of Aceh seemed to contradict the government's assertion that everything was under control.
Closing the year by raising the white flag, people in Aceh cried out for help at a time when the State could not be relied upon. The white flag is indeed synonymous with surrender. But in Aceh, the white flag became a symbol of courage to declare that Aceh is not well—a courage that the State still lacks to this day. Starting in Aceh, the white flag became a symbol of resistance against the illusion of "national stability" that had killed so many.
