Kuala Lumpur, 1 March 2018 - We refer to the report on ‘Maybank: The Single Largest Palm Oil Financier’ from Transformasi Untuk Keadilan (TuK) Indonesia dated 26 February 2018 which mentioned Sime Darby (SDP) as one of the recipients of Maybank’s financial assistance. TUK cited five of SDP operations in Indonesia; PT Mitra Austral Sejahtera (PT MAS) and PT. Swadaya Andika (SAA) in South Kalimantan, PT. Guthrie Pecconina Indonesia (GPI) in South Sumatera , PT ISLM in Belitung and PT. Tamaco Graha Krida (TGK) in Sulawesi. PT GPI, PT SAA and PT TGK, are RSPO certified operations, while PT ISLM is SDP’s only rubber plantation in Indonesia.

The following is our response to the issues highlighted:

Issues regarding PT SAA, PT GPI and PT TGK
These were brought up by Tuk in January 2017 and we have replied to them in detail via our media statements available on our website.

You may click on the links below for the statements issued;
1. Response to TUK
2. Statement on TUK Factsheet
3. Response to Foresthints.news

Issues regarding PT MAS
SDP has already issued a number of statements to the media and TUK reiterating its commitment to continue engaging with the local communities. However, SDP would not be able to satisfy the demands of the communities if it breaches SDP’s terms of its concessions agreement with the Government of Indonesia.

Issues regarding PT ISLM
PT ISLM is working towards resolving and rectifying all the issues outlined by the Ministry within the given timeframe. PT ISLM will ensure compliance with all existing guidelines and regulations. The sanction is in place to allow PT ISLM to resolve outstanding issues which the Ministry has identified.

Error in SPOTT assessments score
In addition to the above, we would also like to highlight a discrepancy in the SPOTT assessments scores highlighted by the report which showed SDP with a less favourable overall score (51%-75%) when in fact, it should have been a good overall score (of >75%) based on the latest SPOTT assessment in November 2017. We view this discrepancy as misleading and demand immediate public clarification by TuK on SDP’s standing based on the actual SPOTT dashboard.