Indonesia and Malaysia have emerged as the world's top producers of palm oil, sharing 84% of global production. The boom has witnessed the rapid rise in the wealth and the power of large state-owned and private agribusiness corporations. n 1961. US President Dwight Eisenhower pointed to "the total influence" of a vast arms industry, which he famously called the military industrial complex. He argued that the complex had undue influence on US policy. Making use of, for the most part, Indonesian land and labour Indonesian and Malaysian companies have created a comparable transnational oil palm 'complex that puts profits ell ahead of people or planet. In the shadow of this complex, we can identify three major trends First, oil palm companies have lobbied the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia to ensure a ready supply of low-wage migrant labour and to make available vast swathes of low-cost land. Investors e opened up new lands for plantations, often overriding the interests of customary rights holders, making land conflicts common. Both countries have shifted toward a corporate model of plantation agriculture. In Malaysia, the ederal Land as one of the Development Authority, originally established to settle landless farmers, now operates largest plantation companies. indistinguishable from other global giants such as Sime Darby. and both are closely linked to the ruling party Indonesian policy previously mandated nuc estate that left 70% the land in the hands smallholders, s schemes received inputs and advice from the central plantation. now favours Policy partnership schemes, which leave landholders with a and insecure 20% shareholding in plantation and often no role other than as plantation workers. the If carried out in an inclusive and transparent way, oil palm development can alleviate poverty and provide gainful However, in countries, local residents and internal migrants often lead to limited benefits from development or lose their land entirely. The plantation model can also vulnerability among poorly paid workers. In Malaysia, about two-thirds of workers are migrants, many with illegal or uncertain residential status.