InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – In the previous nes, the non-profit organization, Transformasi untuk Keadilan (TuK) protested Malaysian palm oil plantation company, Sime Darby for selling one of its subsidiary which is still in conflict with the people around.
It was breaking the promise, violated the regulations in Indonesia and in the world, the sustainable palm oil plantation standards in Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and Guidelines of Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD).
But the company claimed that its decision has deepest consideration.
In the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Tuesday (26/3/2019), the decision to sell di PT. Mitra Austral Sejahtera (MAS) to PT Inti Nusa Sejahtera (PT INS) was a hard one after some considerations from the board of directors. It was the best for the stakeholders.
After it was aquired in 1996, PT MAS got losses more than RM 305 million or equal to Rp 1,07 billion. So the board of directors decided that the bad financial issue would not continue. “The decison was the same with the strategy of the company to review our investment if it is in trouble,” Sime Darby Plantation noted.
Sime Darby Plantations also had made progress to solve the conflict with the locals for years. This happened for TuK constructively involved in it . The good progress within the local people around PT. MAS was well documented and regularly reported to the RSPO and informed through the official statement of the company and publihsed as the previous assumption in the issue.
Apart from the challenges that the company faced for years, Sime Darby Plantations continously did many things, not only to develop the operational of the plantations, but also to develop the economic and social issues to the people around PT MAS.
“It is important for every stakeholder to admit that the main goal of the people’s rights relates to the involvement and agreement from the authority. Sime Darby Plantations could only help to facilitate but could not surpass the conditions and regulatation in getting business license that the government published,” Sime Darby Plantations noted. (T2)
