It started in earnest in March, with a swathe of palm-oil estates seized from a tycoon caught up in corruption allegations. Nine months later, a drive overseen by Indonesia¡¯s defense minister has brought an area the size of Switzerland under state control.
The campaign, outwardly a push to improve governance, is a show of force by President Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general who has regularly railed against both Indonesian elites and foreigners for profiting off the country¡¯s resource riches at the expense of the nation. Already, the central government has taken more than 4 million hectares (roughly 10 million acres) of plantations, mine concessions and processing facilities ¡ª and much of that land has been handed to a state-owned firm newly tasked with managing seized estates.
¡°This is just the beginning,¡± Prabowo said at an event late last month. ¡°We are on the right and noble path of defending the interests of millions of Indonesians.¡±
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