Anger over Indonesian plans for palm oil expansion to rain forests

ACTIVISTS and economists are outraged at Indonesian plans to cut a swathe through one of the world’s largest areas of pristine rain forest to create a massive Chinese-funded palm oil plantation.

The remote stretch of land on Borneo island, home to countless species of rare birds, plants and mammals, including the largest wild orang-utan population, could be decimated in what critics fear is a ruse to access timber.

The 2,000km-long, 5km-wide plantation proposed by the economics ministry in mid-2005 would traverse almost the entire border with Malaysia, slicing through three national parks.