The revocations, announced after Cyclone Senyar triggered landslides and flash floods that killed about 1,200 people, mark a shift in enforcement. Instead of focusing on court-led environmental cases and restoration orders, officials say the land will be managed by state-owned enterprises under the sovereign wealth fund Danantara.
Civil society groups say that risks turning a disaster response into a restructuring of control over forest and resource assets.
Officials have said the 28 companies violated environmental and forestry regulations through their activities such as forest clearing and thus contributed to ecological damage linked to the disasters.
However, an analysis by the NGO Auriga Nusantara found that some of the permits cited in the announcement had already been revoked years earlier, while others had expired before the floods occurred.
The discrepancies add to growing confusion over how the policy is being implemented, which companies are actually linked to the November 2025 floods and landslides and what will happen to the former concession areas now slated for transfer to state-owned enterprises under Danantara.
"We found that several companies' concessions are not located in the disaster-affected areas – they are quite far from the disaster zones," Auriga legal director Roni Saputra told Mongabay.
Permits that predate the disaster
At least five forestry concessions – PT Rimba Timur Sentosa, PT Rimba Wawasan Permai, PT Aceh Nusa Indrapuri, PT Barumun Raya Padang Langkat and PT Multi Sibolga Timber – had already been revoked by the environment and forestry minister in a decree issued Jan. 5, 2022.
In West Sumatra, the right-to-cultivate permit (HGU) for cocoa company PT Inang Sari expired in 2018 and was not renewed, meaning it did not hold a license at the time of the disaster.
Auriga also identified several revoked concessions outside the mainland watersheds hardest hit by the floods and landslides, including PT Minas Pagai Lumber in the Mentawai Islands, PT Gunung Raya Utama Timber and PT Teluk Nauli in Nias Island and PT Sumatera Riang Lestari, whose permits are located on Rupat Island in Riau province.
The group said some plantation-linked entities on the list do not hold HGUs because they operate as intermediaries purchasing fruit from smallholders rather than managing estates.
At the same time, Roni said, some companies operating in severely affected catchments were not included in the revocation list.
Confusion over Martabe and investor response
Uncertainty has also emerged in the mining sector. One of the revoked permits belongs to PT Agincourt Resources, operator of the Martabe gold mine in North Sumatra, an asset for United Tractors and its parent conglomerate Astra International, which is majority-owned by Jardine Matheson.
Danantara chief operating officer Dony Oskaria said the mine could be transferred to a new state mining company, PT Perminas.
But Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia later said the mining permit had not been administratively revoked by his ministry and was still under review.
"The president has directed... to check again and if there were no violations, we must restore the rights of the investor," Bahlil was quoted by Reuters. "If there were violations, we mete out proportional sanctions."
Jardine Matheson told Bloomberg it had not received formal notification about the status of the mine, highlighting what analysts say is a lack of clear communication that has unsettled investors.
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa rejected the notion that the policy represents a consolidation of assets.
"No. We are not centralizing power, but correcting the existing centralized system. After the crisis, this system was implemented, but in practice it has not worked well and has been full of corruption in the regions. Many regional heads have been imprisoned for corruption," he said as quoted by local news.
Legal and procedural questions
The revocations were based on an audit by the forest area enforcement task force, or Satgas PKH, a cross-agency body formed in January 2025 to inventory violations in the state forest zone and recover assets.
Environmental lawyers and officials differ on how its findings should translate into permit cancellations and asset transfers.
Critics say revocation normally follows staged administrative sanctions and, for confiscated assets, a court process. Government officials say the task force's audit can serve as the basis for administrative action to address long-standing illegal use of forest land.
The policy has also shifted enforcement toward direct state management of former concessions through state-owned companies, rather than relying solely on fines and restoration orders.
"So new regulations are being used to bypass existing laws," Roni of Auriga said. "This raises the question: Is this really for environmental protection, or for taking over profits?"
Transparency and restoration
Civil society groups say the central issue is what happens after permits are revoked.
Walhi, the country's largest environmental network, said the government has yet to publish the legal basis for each revocation, the environmental audit results, maps of affected areas or a clear plan for ecological and social recovery.
"Permit revocation should be a momentum for comprehensive environmental audits, corporate accountability and restoration for affected communities and ecosystems," Walhi campaign coordinator Uli Arta Siagian said in a statement.
Handing the land to state-owned companies without that process, she said, risks "merely replacing the managing actor without changing the extractive paradigm."
Walhi also called for continued legal proceedings against companies whose activities caused environmental damage, including administrative sanctions, civil lawsuits, criminal cases and binding restoration obligations.
Roni said the absence of publicly available criteria for linking each concession to the disaster makes it difficult to assess whether the policy is driven by environmental recovery or by a broader restructuring of resource management.
He noted that some companies identified by researchers as operating in heavily affected watersheds were not included in the revocation list.
For now, the government's approach leaves several open questions: Who will fund and carry out restoration in damaged catchments, how will former concession areas be managed, and will the policy strengthen environmental accountability or primarily shift control of forest and mineral assets from private operators to state firms?
Without such clarity, many regions with degraded environment will remain at high risk of disasters.
One of the districts worst affected by the 2025 disasters, Central Tapanuli, was struck by floods again in mid-February 2026.
"The state must prove that permit revocation is a corrective step toward fair, transparent and sustainable natural resource governance, not merely a transfer of control from private corporations to state corporations without a change in paradigm," Walhi said.