PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA — The Center for Natural Resources Law Studies and Advocacy (PUSTAKA ALAM) has strongly condemned the detention of Kalpendi, Chairman of the Handep Hapakat Multipurpose Consumer Cooperative (KKSU), by investigators from the Central Kalimantan Regional Police since December 31, 2025.
The advocacy group described the move as a blatant act of criminalization against grassroots farmers who are struggling to defend the economic rights of plasma smallholders amid what it called deeply unequal partnership arrangements with large plantation corporations.
PUSTAKA ALAM said the arrest was particularly troubling because it occurred while the cooperative was in the process of pursuing legal action of its own, having filed a complaint with the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) over the alleged embezzlement of plasma plantation revenues by its corporate partner.
“In this situation, the neutrality and impartiality of law enforcement are absolutely critical,” PUSTAKA ALAM said in a statement received by Palmoilmagazine.com on Sunday (January 11, 2026).
PUSTAKA ALAM Director Muhamad Zainal Arifin stressed that law enforcement must be carried out fairly and without selective treatment.
“Law enforcement must be demonstrably impartial. There must be no impression that citizens who report alleged embezzlement of plasma funds are instead met with legal pressure that ends in the detention of cooperative leaders,” he said.
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Beyond the arrest itself, PUSTAKA ALAM also questioned the legal construction used by investigators, which it described as fundamentally flawed.
Initially, the cooperative’s management was reported under Article 34 of Law No. 1/2013 on Microfinance Institutions. During the investigation, police added multiple charges, including Articles 372 (embezzlement), 378 (fraud), and 266 (false statements in documents) of the former Criminal Code.
According to Zainal, the application of the Microfinance Law was a forced and irrelevant interpretation of the statute.
“KKSU Handep Hapakat is a legally registered cooperative established under Law No. 25/1992. It does not operate as a microfinance institution,” he said.
PUSTAKA ALAM further argued that the inclusion of Article 266 on document falsification appeared designed primarily to justify detention. The documents in question — the cooperative’s legal establishment decree from 2010 and a management amendment from 2014 — were issued by state authorities and are legally valid administrative products.
The group also rejected allegations of embezzlement and fraud under Articles 372 and 378, calling them illogical.
“All financial management, cost deductions, and the distribution of plasma revenues have been carried out unilaterally by the partner company. The cooperative is in fact the aggrieved party, questioning where the funds that rightfully belong to plasma farmers have gone,” Zainal said.
In response, PUSTAKA ALAM urged President Prabowo Subianto and National Police Chief to intervene and ensure that law enforcement agencies are not used as instruments of pressure against small farmers.
The organization said the state’s obligation to protect farmers and cooperatives is in line with Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, which mandates an economy based on social justice and people-centered development.
PUSTAKA ALAM also called on the Police’s Internal Affairs Division (Propam) and the Inspectorate General (Irwasum) to conduct a comprehensive review of the investigation carried out by the Special Crimes Directorate of the Central Kalimantan Police, to ensure there has been no abuse of authority that could undermine public trust.
The group emphasized that disputes over plasma plantations should be resolved through equal, transparent, and fair dialogue — not through criminal prosecution.
Partnerships between plantation companies and plasma cooperatives, it said, must be built on good faith, transparency, and deliberation, with the ultimate goal of improving farmers’ welfare on a sustainable basis.
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“The state must act as a fair mediator. The use of criminal instruments in agribusiness partnership conflicts will only deepen grassroots social tensions and move us further away from the true purpose of plasma schemes,” Zainal concluded. (P2)
