Indonesia increases patrols in Sumatra national park after attacks on task force

JAKARTA - Indonesia has sent reinforcements to a national park on Sumatra island after a forestry task force command post was destroyed in response to oil palm plantation seizures, the Forestry Ministry said on Nov 25.

In 2025, President Prabowo Subianto’s forestry task force, which includes military personnel and state prosecutors, launched a

crackdown on oil palm plantations

they say have been running illegally in forest areas, an operation the palm oil industry says could disrupt global supplies.

“This reinforcement aims to re-secure the tactical command post, prevent further damage, and ensure that the operation to restore order and restore the ecosystem continues to run smoothly,” the ministry said in a statement.

An additional 30 soldiers and 20 forestry police personnel have been deployed to Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau province, the ministry said, to intensify patrols, guard areas prone to encroachment and monitor guard posts.

Endangered Sumatran elephant

The 83,000ha national park is home to the critically endangered Sumatran elephant and has faced years of encroachment, the government said.

The ministry said the task force had seized 4,700ha of illegal oil palm in the Tesso Nilo National Park area, dismantled access to the plantations, and demolished buildings related to the illegal oil palm operation in the area.

“Our enforcement operations in Tesso Nilo are designed to break the chain of business that is destroying the area, not to sacrifice the people. Our focus is on landowners, financiers and heavy equipment operators who trade in state forest areas,” said senior Forestry Ministry official Dwi Januarto Nugroho.

Thousands of residents in Riau’s oil palm belt

protested last week against the takeover

of their plantations by the government task force trying to restore the ecosystem in an 8,000ha area inside the park.

Across the archipelago, around 3.7 million ha of plantations have been seized, with nearly half transferred to the nascent state-run firm Agrinas Palma Nusantara, transforming it into the world’s largest oil palm company by land size. REUTERS