Top US Economist Jeffrey Sachs Was ‘Cultivated’ and ‘Influenced’ To Become a ‘Champion’ of Sime Darby – Exclusive!
Posted Saturday, November 12th, 2011
This post is also available in: Iban, Malay
Professor Jeffrey Sachs of The Earth Institute, Columbia University – a ‘champion’ of Sime Darby?
Sarawak Report has uncovered shocking documents, which detail a deliberate and orchestrated campaign by the Malaysian Oil Palm giant, Sime Darby, to court and seduce one of the world’s most celebrated economists into becoming an ‘Ambassador’ for the company.
Jeffrey Sachs is the Professor of Sustainable Development at New York’s Columbia University and was listed by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
As Head of the University’s Earth Institute, Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and former Director of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Sachs is famous for his initiatives on reducing world poverty.
- Horizon to horizon – Sime Darby’s HQ for its plantations between Miri and Bintulu
Yet, despite the World Bank’s decision to ban further lending to large scale palm oil plantations, because they have been shown to INCREASE poverty, Sime Darby believe, according to these documents, that they have converted Jeffrey Sachs into a valuable ‘champion’ for their company and for Malaysia’s palm oil industry.
Our evidence shows that Sime Darby, Malaysia’s largest oil palm company, hired the disgraced PR outfit FBC Media to ‘cultivate’ and ‘influence’ this key opinion former, so that they could use him as a ‘Third Party Endorser’ in the numerous newspaper advertisements and TV programmes they commissioned to promote their palm oil business.
- Professor Sachs praises Sime Darby and the Malaysian Government’s initiative on sustainability in a full page Advertorial in the Herald Tribune, next to CEO Musa Hitam and an ad for Iskandar
For example, in this Herald Tribune full page advertisement Sachs authored a guest piece back in 2008, praising the Malaysian Government and Sime Darby for their supposed initiatives on sustainable development. Alongside, is a second feature by Sime Darby CEO, the former Deputy PM Musa Hitam, and also an advertisement for Malaysia’s development zone, Iskandar.
There is no indication as to who financed the advertisement or whether Professor Sachs received any form of payment. However, we can demonstrate that his Earth Institute has just received a half million dollar donation from Sime Darby towards its projects and that Sachs has personally accepted family trips to Sime Darby’s Carey Island plantation, where he was transported in the company’s private jet.
As part of his substantial write up for the advertorial the professor endorses Sime Darby’s eco-credentials:
“Some promising steps have been taken by Malaysia in recent years, which may set a powerful example for the rest of Asia… The government is working closely with leading companies, such as the palm-oil giant Sime Darby, which have recognized that long-term environmental sustainability is vital to the business interests of serious, law-abiding companies with long-time horizons” [Int Herald Tribune, 20/06/08]
Destructive giant
Yet, the eco-claims of Malaysia, Sime Darby and Iskandar are, of course, highly questionable. The Iskandar part of the advertisement carries the slogan ’Growing In Harmony With Nature’. However, that project has controversially destroyed one of the last remaining mangrove areas on mainland Malaysia and displaced the indigenous Seletar people, the region’s last sea nomads, from their fishing grounds, which are now depleated and polluted by the development.
- Cleared for mono-culture – Sime Darby has 47,000 hectares under cultivation in Sarawak
Likewise, Sime Darby, which is controlled by the Malaysian Government, is the world’s largest palm oil company and its vast plantations have destroyed huge areas of Sarawak’s coastal peat forest in the region between Miri and Bintulu and elsewhere.
Apart from the environmental destruction of Borneo’s valuable rainforest, these plantations have alienated lands from local tribes and communities and most of the resulting jobs are poorly paid and have been handed increasingly to immigrant workers and not local people.
Sime Darby’s latest controversial activities have moved outside of Sarawak, where it has planted 47,000 hectares, into Liberia in Africa, where native communities are protesting that the company has been taking their ancestral lands and causing them hardship.
Moving to Africa - Sime Darby is currently up to its old tricks displacing native communities in Liberia. So much for sustainable development.
Indeed, just last month the Liberian Government fined Sime Darby US$50,000 for non-compliance with the terms and conditions of their permit. So, it appears that the company is not so law-abiding after all.
Incentives?
The intervention by Sachs was doubtless well-intentioned. However, exclusive documents obtained by Sarawak Report prove that FBC believe they had succeeded in their campaign of ’cultivating’ and ‘influencing’ him and others into becoming one of the useful ‘tools’ they were able to offer their clients for their PR campaigns.
Sachs has appeared in numerous promotional articles and TV programmes commissioned by Sime Darby from FBC, before that company was exposed for its illegal PR activities earlier this year. These programmes included Third Eye on BBC World and CNBC’s World Business Programme.
In a pitch made by FBC to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud for the multi-million ringgit contract to promote SCORE (Taib’s pet development project) the PR company brags that their successes for Sime Derby included:
“The cultivation of influential ‘ambassadors’, such as The Earth Institute’s Jeffrey Sachs or Dr Reza Azmi, of wild Asia, leading voices on environmental issues”
- “Cultivation of influential ‘ambassadors’ such as The Earth Institute’s Jeffrey Sachs” – FBC’s ‘Track Record with Sime Darby’
Embarrassing
Such claims can only be embarrassing for Jeffrey Sachs, particularly in the light of the fact that only last year Sime Darby was included in The Earth Institute’s prestigious “Corporate Circle” of companies, described as “dedicated to sustainable development”.
Sime Darby's $500,000 donation to the Earth Institute's Corporate Circle projects on joining last year
The Institute, of which Sachs is the Head, explains “We promote opportunities to join the Earth Institute in building strong links between corporate sustainability and holistic sustainable development”.
At the same time Sime Darby provided a half million dollar donation to support The Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and China programmes.[Our Donors]
Given the claims by FBC, Professor Sachs may now have to consider whether such support and the huge financial gestures he has accepted on behalf of his Institute were merely a cynical ploy on Sime Darby’s part to ‘cultivate and influence’ him as part of the company’s well-funded campaign to counter a mass of environmental criticism about the destructive nature of their business?
‘Corporate Greenwash’
FBC’s presentations make clear that their objective for Sime Darby was to ”counter negative perceptions surrounding the Palm Oil Industry”, through “managing and influencing the news agenda” and “sophisticated corporate messaging within an editorial framework”.
Under one section entitled “Palm Oil’s Sustainable Future: Myth or Reality?” they lay out in detail how they plan to spend a good chunk of the industry’s millions on altering world perception:
“Palm oil…remains surrounded by controversy with its production methods triggering fierce debate and harsh criticism from the ‘green lobby’…..The following slides outline FBC’s production strategy for producing editorially credible content for placement on international, pan-regional broadcasters, helping re-set the debate around palm oil and its sustainability and initiating a wider, more objective dialogue”.
Their presentations also make clear that their strategy was to “cultivate Sime Darby ‘champions’” and “target organisations and opinion formers” who could be quoted in their articles and films.
- “]
- Targetted opinion-formers – Jeffrey Sachs was top of Sime Darby’s list [FBC Power Point Presentation
FBC go on to explain that their promotions, which posed as objective journalism, would create the appearance of balance by featuring critics, who would then be over-ruled by more sympathetic voices to their clients.
"To keep the reporting balanced, we will interview NGOs leveling criticism at the industry, but then getting responses from the key players in palm oil production from countries such as Malaysia, where sustainable certification is promoted and forest conservation efforts are underway". [FBC Media Presentation]
The strategy, eplains FBC, is to present Sime Darby as a well-meaning company striving towards ‘sustainability’ by making all the right gestures… and also all the right friends. They call it “Moving the Perception Needle’ to create an ‘Environmental Reputation’ for Sime Darby.
Greenwash agenda - disguising the destructive reality of the oil palm business with Green PR about 'sustainability efforts'. Such campaigns do not come cheap, but Sime Darby and Taib Mahmud were prepared to pay!
Sime Darby was paying FBC millions of ringgit to conduct this illegal PR campaign, known as ‘Greenwash’, which is all about perception rather than reality.
Compromised?
- Fun for the family? ‘World Sustainability Expert’ Sachs tours Sime Darby’s showcase Carey Island. Pity he did not have time to come and see the destruction of Sarawak
Given this calculated and well-funded agenda and the widespread knowledge about the dangers of ‘Greenwash’ campaigns, one might question the wisdom of Professor Sachs in accepting a family tour for himself, wife and two children to Malaysia and India in 2008, escorted in the Sime Darby private jet.
Our researches have revealed that, throughout the trip to Sime Darby’s showcase plantation on Carey Island, Sachs and his family were accompanied by a then employee of the PR agency APCO, Razi Rahman, which was working for the Malaysian government at the time and continued to have close links with FBC Media.
Sime Darby’s newsletter recorded the event and explained how the Carey Island Managing Director headed a reception team at the airport which then proceeded to show the Sachs family round.
Unfortunately, the Professor did not appear to realise that he was the prime target of an expensive PR effort, which was being ultimately paid for by the people of Malaysia.
Sarawak Report has researched a number of subsequent appearances by Jeffrey Sachs on FBC programmes for CNBC and the BBC, some of which raised eyebrows among those concerned about genuine sustainable development.
Positive programming, masquerading as genuine reporting
Just last June Sachs appeared on FBC’s World Business Programme for two consecutive weeks providing a set piece interview on global warming and sustainability. At the same time he appeared numerous times in a BBC programme Third Eye, focusing on the ‘world food crisis’.
The show painted a picture of imminent catastrophe and starvation if more palm oil was not grown. It also presented a positive picture of the impact of palm oil on Malaysia:
- “Third Party Endorser” – Sachs appears on BBC’s Third Eye for FBC Media
“The growing trade in palm oil is providing much needed income to poorer farmers in Malaysia, where living standards are rising. It is also giving jobs to poor people who once owned no land” The programme explains and it features a Malaysian small-holder who is represented as a typical palm oil producer!
By taking part in the programme, Sachs was made to appear to endorse this positive message. However, such claims would not satisfy many poor people in Sarawak, where most of the palm plantations are run by enormous companies like Sime Darby or owned by members of Taib’s family and cronies. In Sarawak it is the poor people who have had their native lands grabbed and handed to plantations, not the other way around.
- Job lot – same interview different channel! FBC got two interviews for CNBC out of the Sachs interview, plus the BBC Third Eye.
As for jobs, the plantations prefer to bring in immigrant workers paid as low as RM 8 a day, leaving the locals unemployed. Likewise, those so-called cooperatives run by SALCRA have in fact delivered a pittance in profits for the poor small farmers, since most of the money seems to have been ‘lost’ by the manager of the state-led enterprise, Deputy PM Alfred Jabu!
Few people in Sarawak would therefore recognise the story being painted by FBC Media of people being made better off by palm plantations. Rather, they would understand the findings of the World Bank, which concluded that large scale palm plantations make the local people poorer, because they lose their lands to big plantation businesses, like Sime Darby.
However, BBC’s Third Eye programme on palm oil, which was produced and scripted by FBC as a supposedly objective documentary ,closely followed the strategy below, laid out in FBC’s proposal documents for the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry:
“The programme will put a particular focus on small farm holders – to emphasise the often overlooked fact that these constitute the majority of players in an industry too often associated to large corporate interests…… We should take the Malaysian example as a sign to reassess many assumptions about the environmental impact of industry in the developing world, and remember that our well-meaning sentimentality can have profoundly negative consequences for people trying to work their way out of poverty.”
Anyone in Malaysia knows that FBC’s assessment is not true. The majority of the industry is owned and run by rich people…. like Taib’s family. Yet, Jeffrey Sachs, who appeared throughout the programme, was blatantly used to re-enforce the Sime Darby message, having been allocated the role of a so-called “Third Party Ambassador” or “Third Pary Endorser” for the company.
- Sachs cultivated as a ‘Third Party Endorser’?
World-wide corruption through Greenwash millions
Our evidence shows that Professor Sachs was not the only apparently unwitting ’tool’ of Sime Darby. Others too have been pawns of the palm oil industry’s strategy of cultivating third party champions. By allowing themselves to be ‘cultivated and influenced’ in this way, these highly-regarded ‘ambassadors’ have done no service to the genuine poor of Sarawak and Malaysia, whom they claim to be trying to help.
FBC's 'One Square Mile' for BBC World was paid for by Taib as one of the PR opportunities to present his government in a good light. The programme presented a picture of a government trying to help the people and ignored the logging, land grabs and plantation problems.
To the contrary they have merely performed a highly funded service for the rich land-grabbers, who are behind the destruction of the environment that these ‘sustainability gurus’ claim they are trying to save.
Likewise, the television companies which queued up to provide a platform for these FBC sponsored programmes, because they came so cheaply.
They should remember that their cheap programming has come at great expense to the desperate communities of Sarawak, who deserve honest reporting about their plight, and also to the tax-payers of Malaysia, who have funded FBC to the tune of millions of ringgit for this deceptive PR.
BBC, CNBC, CNN and all the global broadcasters who regularly carried biased programming by FBC media to promote big businesses and the Malaysian and Sarawak State Governments, should all now come to Sarawak and fully report on the real problems behind the destruction of the Borneo Rainforest and the suffering of its people.
Political corruption, big agri-business and lawlessness are the problems that need to be identified and addressed. Instead we got Greenwash.
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Professor Jeffry Sachs..why do you do that? Do you know that Sime Darby oil plantation in Sarawak is at the expense of the natives NCR land,force acquisition..By right,you should proposed HEAVY CARBON TAX on the products. Poor natives are displaced as their land are being sold by the Thief Minister to these people and all proceeds went to his son and family.
Jeffry Sachs..please read Sarawak Report carefully and also let Barrack Obama knows about this too.Wake up professor jeffry Sachs..wake up!!
dream on……you think they care…….we sarawakians jaga diri sendiri…….we dont buy….orang putih propaganda…..you think we still dont know the ploy……we enjoy ourself and the way the majority thinks…hahaha…we all gila babi punya cara.maybe sarawak loves sarawakians,even he is the worse of them all.you put another sarawakians he be the same better keep him until God takes him back and Jesus judges him according to his mercy and grace.hahaha,comes this coming parliamentary election,sarawakians will put him back and yes he sit on the c.m throne couse the majority of sarawakians loves him.what have you all got to complaints when all the sarawakians majority voted for him.hahahaha……sarawakians likes it this way…not any other way.
I perused through Sime Darby's annual reports; thus far they have NOT cultivated at all on NCR land. Unless they lied, but I think annual reports are truthful accounts usually. Story goes that they tried to secure some land through the proper channels, but negotiations with natives took a toll, and they backed out.
Its a bit far-fetched to think that the company would displace natives in Malaysia. I understand it is a government owned entity, and votes of the natives count for a lot in Malaysia.
"and votes of the natives count for a lot in Malaysia"
Haha, no: they are surprisingly cheap, around RM50 per piece.
Reading Annual Reports isn't enough. Google for "Sime Darby" and Julau. True, it has yet to start. If at all, but this shows that SD is not shying away from NCR land and if you search for these terms you'll find out that there is already real concern over these plans.
Let us all tell him on his Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.sachs?sk=wall
His Facebook is just cramped with PR for his own books. Just find ways to get the message across.
all this is gila babi punya kerja………….like a babi hutan,makan semua…..
No matter how one looks at it, 'greenwashing' is a deceptive and it is doing a great disservice to mankind because it hides ugly truths about what one really does to the environment – its destruction. We understand Malaysia needs to rebuff the soya bean lobbyist groups' smearing of palm oil products. We perfectly understand Malaysia needs palm oil as one of its cash cow export earnings.
But what we can't understand is why resort to greenwashing and its unethical practices? Not unless you really have something to hide – the ugly truth that your palm oil industry and practices have destroyed large tracts of rainforests, peat forests, degrade soils by large-scale use of fertilizers, increase carbon emissions and carbon footprints, uproot communities and destroy their societal and cultural fabric for the sake of industry expansion. It runs against all principles of sustainability.
And all of these are done in the name of corporate profits and handsome export earnings for the country? Yes, you can claim you've provided employment opportunities, but on closer look, many of them are foreign workers who are being paid a meagre sum and shabbily housed by palm oil companies to reduce your operational costs and maximize profits.To corporations, it's a zero-sum game.
It's high time that the Government takes a long-term view of the palm oil industry, its practices, and its social, economic, and environment costs and benefits – the essential ingredients of sustainability.For without, it becomes an endless vicious cycle of corporate profits and corporate tax at the expense of societal and environmental well-being.
Greenwashing is a sure way to stagnate progress in doing the right things for 'people, profit, and planet' in a genuinely sustainable way. Greenwashing is dishonest and it can bite you back when you least expect it. Instead, Malaysians need greater awareness of the value of ecological services, how businesses can actually gain by being sustainable, and how the public can be good stewards of their environment 'cause their very human existence depends on its care and maintenance.
Sarawak Report could consider a serious step of writing to Jeffrey Sachs directly and request an explanation.
This would be most appropriate.
Please do that.
HAHAHA! SO HE GOT SACHED INTO A SCAM BY TAIB!
Thanks again to Sarawak Report another so-called expert and professor has been exposed as being sucked into the quagmire of Taib’s whitewashing propaganda machine.
Many institutions of learning, professors and various “experts” on solving world problems have been willingly enticed by Taib’s black “research dollars” into his big lie about his "good green government".
Unfortunately when you get involved with black money your name and reputation can be dragged into the mud.
Adelaide Uni Australia must be happy that it trained such a slick operator like Taib who has been able to use his legal learning to make laws to enrich himself and his family and cronies at the expense of thousands of victimized ulu landowners. His black money bought him the doubtful honour of having a uni a courtyard named after him in Adelaide.
He engineered an invitation to the House of Lords to contrive an opportunity for him to publicly justify his stripping Sarawak of its trees as "development" in the eyes of the public. But he did not sound convincing at all. However, the BBC was also sucked into doing his whitewashing as did the CNBC and CNN.
Who can believe these broadcasting services which have been acting as the apologists and mouthpieces of UK/US Western imperialism?
he is only good at teaching, the rest he sucks
So you thought that only Malaysians are crooks! Think again! While we can buy you we WILL buy you and put the profit in our off shore accounts. Hello suckers!
i think sarawak report should authenticate their source….Estates in Sarawak where Sime Darby operates are not on NCR Land…
danish darwish..you are too naive and you know NUTS about the real situation..real nuts..maybe orang MALAYA…
Shaking Stevens,
The onus is on you to prove Danish Darwish wrong. NCR land by definition is one where the claimant can prove they had the land prior to 1st January 1958, and still exists today. There are two other definitions under Section 6 and Section 10. Titles are not issued unless they can prove the native rights. Until and unless they do, it is State Land (under Section 5), and natives are licensed by the government to occupy free of rent, until title is issued.
So prove that the corporations like IOI and SIme are on NCR land. You will win the case easily.
Roslan, for the IOI case the evidence is there and the High Court accepted it. But you are completely wrong to say that one can win the case easily. IOI, Pelita and the state gommen will just appeal, appeal and appeal until the villagers have nothing left. In the meantime the companies just continue to work on and profit from the land as though nothing happened.
Well, that the current state government had lopsidedly decided that the land was not NCR land is not convincing: the legal validity of such decisions has been crushed in court case after court case. There is some evidence that there were natives living off the land near before Golden Hope came in. One would have to look into the history of the case around R. Saging, i.e. north of Sebauh, and one is very likely to be too naive in thinking that all issues had been fairly and lawfully settled before the bulldozers moved in. ,
Furthermore, there is the old SLDB case in Balingan where Sime took over the management. Did Sime settle this long lasting NCR conflict case, or are they just waiting for the court hearing?
What does the Liberia case tell us about SD's ability to handle indigenous peoples' rights?
Then, back home. In 2009, Sime bought up Nature Ambience and announced plans to partner up with Pelita to develop another 50,000ha in a densely populated landscape in Julau and also in Kapit. Even Taib's civil servants admit that there are many NCR claims around Julau. And the locals do not appear to be very "enthusiastic" about the plans that have been cooked up for them.
Whatever Sime's sustainability PR may say, however real some of the company staff may be trying to avert disaster, we all know that Pelita will screw it up for them anyhow. A series of land conflicts, campaigns, court cases etc. will be triggered. No PR can save the company then.
Let's also not forget that Malaysia's Number 1 palm oil greenwasher, you know ba, the MPOC director, sits on the Sime board now. He runs a few other companies that have major NCR problems. It'll be quite something to see him appear on pictures with Jeffrey Sachs!
Jeffrey Sachs is a economic terrorist that used Milton Friedman economics to destroy developing economies. He was the Harvard boys who were sent to destroy post Communist Russia. He implemented that Russia transition from a communist to capitalist economy in a matter of days. Russians woke up overnight to find that fod and energy price tripled or more. Many russians literally starved to death
danish darwish do you know that NCR land is considered state land by Sarawak BN ?
Professor Sachs, looks like the western ethics include oh no, not bribes but facilitation fees! You are worst than the prostitute who at least charges by the hour, you sell your soul and your principles!
Money,money,money it's so funny,in a rich man's world, ABBA was right,the whole load of Gin Bang Gang can be bought with so much money to be made,Nature n it's people can go Fork themselves,they don't give two hoots to it.Change the Govt n we shall see how bad our country has become.
Is the same story about some Harvard economist who write good things about junk bonds and other instructments and receibed a lot of money . Sachs if I am not wrong is expert in monetary economics???
tubuk kanang adup……..what can anyone do….just a day go buy……life passes us by.
These Chicago boys and harvard boys screwed up so many coutries with their neo liberalism. They now have to give themselves cosmetic makeover to cari makan as mercenaries. They just give nice PR spin with bunga language to support the interests of rich and powerful
Wikipedia: "Sachs is first holder of the Royal Professor Ungku Aziz Chair in Poverty Studies at the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 2007-2009."
So, the man has been reeled in some time ago already. I guess, he didn't have to pay for it. Only Malaysian politicians pay for their online PhD's. People like Sachs are welcomed for free so long as they say nice things about Barisan Nasional.
Is this man capable of facing the people whose forests, whose lands and resources are stolen from them, and more importantly, can he arm twist Sime Darby in surrendering stolen land, restoring stolen forests, undoing damages to culture and environment? What does "finding a balance" mean to this man, when he has never faced the people affected by the company he is endorsing as "the good guys"? Heavens, what does this imply about "the bad guys"?
Keep Up Appearance, it is. The realities on the ground tell a different story. We've been around quite a bit in visiting oil palm plantations in Sarawak and we know what it's like. Yes, inviting Sach to make a visit to Sarawak isn't such a bad idea, face the affected people, and hear their side of the story.
So where is the Rice Darby was supposed to have planted in Sarawak?
Semua bohong?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7456411.stm
All can write to Jeffrey Sachs to express displeasure and request clarification at –
Good investigative journalism Sarawak report. Kudos.
Indeed green or white washing deforestation and stealing from the poor isn't so straight forward any more but disguised in an 'objective' report or documentary supported by 'credible' sources or rather personalities like Sachs. My heart sinks thinking of how manipulative we can become? And is money enough when confronted by the suffering out actions inflict on others both immediate through the loss of land and livelihood and long term through environmental degradation. Do we justify that it's ok because it's not. Especially not when you know now and you're obliged to find out more not based on your perception of Sime Darby or the Malaysian government but the social, economic and especially political realities on the ground.
By saying this and saying that only create more anger just among us. The answer is very simple. The power to change is in our hand. Just vote them out during an election. Full stop!.
Better watch this one too (from Bursa Malaysia announcements):
Type:Announcement
Subject: OTHERS
DescriptionIncorporation of Sime Darby Plantation Cameroon Ltd
(Announcement pursuant to Chapter 9.19 (23) of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad's Main Market Listing Requirements)
Announcement Details/Table Section :
Sime Darby Berhad (Sime Darby) wishes to announce the incorporation of Sime Darby Plantation Cameroon Ltd (SDPCL) in the Republic of Cameroon on 20 October 2011. The certificate of incorporation of SDPCL was received by Sime Darby on 27 October 2011.
The entire registered capital of SDPCL of 10 million Francs CFA divided into 1,000 ordinary shares of 10,000 Francs CFA each will be held by Kumpulan Ladang-Ladang Rajawali Sdn Bhd (980 shares), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sime Darby, Mr Franki Anthony Dass, Executive Vice President of the Plantation Division of Sime Darby (10 shares) and Ms Renaka Ramachandran, Chief Financial Officer of the Plantation Division of Sime Darby (10 shares).
The principal activities of SDPCL are cultivation of oil palm and/or rubber trees and subsequent production of oil palm and/or rubber products for use in Cameroon and/or for export and vegetable oil refinery and bulking activities in Cameroon.
The incorporation of SDPCL is not expected to have a material effect on the earnings or net assets of the Sime Darby Group for the financial year ending 30 June 2012. None of the directors or substantial shareholders of Sime Darby or persons connected to them has any interest, direct or indirect, in the said incorporation.
This announcement is dated 28 October 2011.
I don't know. To me, if a company wants to expand, they should, as long as it respects the laws of the land. I trade in commodities exchange for my extra money, and yes, their performance is in a way, is my bread and butter. But the fact is, CPO as a commodity is still the cheapest vegetable cooking oil, in demand from China and India due to its price. If they can grow in Liberia, Cameroon, heck, Iceland, shouldn't we as Malaysians be happy? CPO accounted for like 45% of Malaysia's export earnings last year, which is money for the government's coffers. What the government does with it is another matter la…
SD, UP, IOI are all RSPO compliant as far as their reports show, so I think we should give them fair chance no?
No, when they work the natives for only RM300 per month. If thats not exploitation and real slavery then you can support your sime master payer till kingdom come but leave the natives land alone. Do you know tabung haji,a religious body also having problems with natives in sarawak over NCR land. A religious body stealing lands?
As far as I know, all workmen compensation in Malaysia is subject to Collective Agreements. A quick check at NUPW shows that their CA is renewed every three years. The recent review this year saw NUPW members pay now at minimum RM850 a month. They also get a house, water, electricity. If you read SD's press release on their pay package, they also give rice and cooking oil to the workers.
NCR land is the cause of many problems. SD has said they do not have NCR land and we have to for now take that at face value. Note that NCR land is a political tool now, as parties try to use NCR land as the leverage for support. If we remove that bit, natives can enjoy a better life.
Go to the oil palm plantations in sarawak, not the NUPW office lah.
Roslan you are way too dependent on what the official sources say. Besides, SD was fined $ 50,000 in Liberia for non-compliance with permit requirements That not official enough? A formal RSPO grievance has been filed.
Please stop giving these companies more funds to expand like crazy, solving problems only after they create them.
At least that's honest.
But SD, IOI, UP do NOT follow the laws! Of course their annual reports will say they do but Sime was even fined $ 50,000 in Liberia. Or are you now going to say that's OK so long as they pay the fine? Sime now faces an RSPO grievance for grabbing land in Liberia. IOI and UP the same.
Most influencing person? Information warfare should start now. Please show Taib's property portfolio to each long house ASAP and show RM888 billion were taken out from Malaysia illicitly from 2000 to 2008.
Should not sit quiet, should counter attack them with guerilla warfare.
Updates from The Inside Edge:
"As of June 2011, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) statistics showed the state’s total planted area was 971,611 ha, just under 20% of the total planted area in all of Malaysia. Of this, mature trees made up 784,496 ha (about 80%), with the remaining 20% comprised of immature trees.
According to Choo Yuen May, MPOB’s director-general, with the state’s palm oil planted area growing 8.6% every year as of June 2011, Sarawak’s contribution to Malaysia’s total oil palm crop is rapidly expanding."
The state's total palm oil planted area is currently under a million ha and out of which 80% of 'matured trees' have been sacrificed for planting. At an expanding rate of 8.5% per year, can you fanthom how much we'll be losing one of Earth's greatest biological treasures which we are just beginning to appreciate their true value?
Abor, that's just yadiya. They're going to push for 2 million ha of sawit in Swk, then there's the Planted Forest Projects of 2.3Mha, then 12 dams, add "conservation projects" (which are insignificant), forest reserves which are deemed exclusive state assets to be granted to loggers….
Well, there's not gonna be any land left for the people, unless they are smallholders provided they're not out-competed by illegal Indons.
The idea that Jeffrey Sachs and other experts reeled in by FBC will be endorsing is to corporatize all and everything that is "community" and "nature". Go figure, what a development model! No wonder they can get supporters in the US, but no one to endorse this in Sarawak, unless they are offered RM50 to surrender their democratic rights and their land, naturally.
It's the "plunder, get-rich-quick" model!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"The decision to develop Sarawak at the expense of the forest reveals a distressing lack of care and understanding of the rainforest as well as an outdated model of ‘development’ at the expense of the environment. When asked whether trees are treasured in Borneo, Adie Abad, from the Bintulu Development Authority, simply responded: “We will plant those trees later on — alongside the road, no problem. But we have to give way to the industry to come in.” Planting new trees simply cannot replace a primary dense rainforest that took thousands of years to develop into the biodiversity hotspot we see today. Science tells us that primary forests are healthier, livelier, and contain more biodiversity than secondary stands, and are additionally an important carbon sink."
(Hailey Deneberg)
no body seems to care why you guys are complaining and whining about all this,got nothing much to do kah.please sarawakians are not lifting any fingers and they are all behind taib mahmud yang di kasihi dan disayangi.STOP ATTACKING THE MOST LOVED LEADER OF THE SARAWAK PEOPLE,EVEN IF YOU AND ME BEGGED TO DIFFER.AS FOR THIS GUY HE IS A NONE SARAWAKIANS HE JUST IN FR THE MONEY PAY HIM HIS MONEY HE BE HAPPY.until nature takes its cause sarawakians are happy with everything,so the rest jus shut up your mouth and keep quite.
Only you are happy. The rest of us loathe this beloved leader of yours. We'll be very happy to see you attending to him when he pass on soon, we hope. That will make us happy because he is not making us happy as long as he is still around. I lift my middle finger to you.
only you not happy lah…if so many not happy how come he wons so many seats in the last election….all the people like you cannot vote meh…hehehhehehhehhehhehhe…..hahahahahaha….you are a lier…..you also voted for him.you think we dont know….you just like the rest blame it on others but yourself….hahahaha….
When you have that certain madness in you ,you will not be able to think and see further then your dick. No i did not vote for your taib. Go see taib about your Gila Babi sickness. His witch doctor can make it go away!
all of the majority voted for him so we all gila babi lah…ohhh…you saying we sarawakians gila babi…ehhh…we love taib and B.N they took care of the state and provide debilopmen lah..how say you….you don know kah…all of sarawak loves the good work done…why you say i bad and gila babi…you also eat babi,and now gila babi.tell me if you dont eat babi..hahahahahahaha.
Tell me how many of his own race has move away from the swampy banks of mukah river into palatial houses like you and taib have. How many of them owns fishing trawlers and how many go to mecca without selling their lands? Development you say but development for whom? Do you know why china aren't so keen on buying bird nests from mukah, ask the guy who owns the alluminium smelting plant!
he loves his race,can i say the same for our dayaks leader….
do you nthink people in the street and kampong really care about whats going on.they fucking dont…beleive me….its just survival for them….you guys are just the rich upper middle class trying to act smart but cmes election nothing is going to move the voters and they will still come back to taib and B.N whom they feel they can trust..so how…..
Sime Darby/UMNO Goons also notorious in using BN PRS Dayak Ali Baba 5 Percent partner name in disguise as the Bakun dam project Joint-Venture consortium which eventually suffering huge losses
No surprise why Sime Darby can easily get the Julau area Dayak lands since the Dayak Ali Baba is the MP for Julau and under Land Development Ministry approval (all BN PRS Dayak Goons Traitors)
So UMNO Cronies and BN PRS Ali Baba of course help each other lah in Debolotment, Looting etc. even it’s Dayak killing fellow Dayak
Nevertheless Dr Mamak also happy to see Sime Darby’s Bakun failure since Dr Mamak goons TPK Global Upline / Ekran group (the original Bakun dam crook) being snubbed big time for the subsequent infra work Bakun dam project (Dr Mamak version of lesser of two evils, eh?)
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Bursa Malaysia-General Announcement
Reference No SD-110721-D2FB2
Company Name : SIME DARBY BERHAD
Stock Name :SIME
Date Announced :25/08/2011
Type :Announcement
Subject
ROVISION OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Description:
Sime Darby Berhad (“Sime Darby” or “the Company”) had, on 27 February 2008 announced that it had, during the quarter ended 31 December 2007, issued a Corporate Guarantee of RM1 billion to Sarawak Hidro Sdn. Bhd. (“Sarawak Hidro”) to guarantee the due performance, execution and completion of the CW2 Package for the main civil works for the Bakun Hydroelectric Project by the Malaysia-China Hydro Joint Venture (“MCH JV”).
Sime Darby had also announced that it had, during the quarter ended 31 December 2007, issued a Letter of Indemnity to the Directors of Sarawak Hidro to indemnify them from all consequences, liabilities, damages or losses which they may suffer as a result of their agreeing to Sarawak Hidro providing financial assistance to the MCH JV.
Sime Darby wishes to announce that, to-date, the said Corporate Guarantee and Letter of Indemnity have not been withdrawn or cancelled.
Sime Darby has an effective interest of 35.7% in the MCH JV. The parties to the MCH JV and their interests therein are as follows:-
i. Sinohydro Corporation (30% of the MCH JV)
ii. the Sime Joint Venture (70% of the MCH JV), comprising:-
a. Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd. (51% of the Sime Joint Venture)
b. Edward & Sons (EM) Sdn. Bhd. (5% of the Sime Joint Venture)
c. the WMAI Joint Venture (44% of the Sime Joint Venture), comprising:-
aa. WCT Engineering Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
bb. MTD Capital Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
cc. Ahmad Zaki Resources Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
dd. Syarikat Ismail Ibrahim Sdn. Bhd. (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sime Darby.
The following parties in the MCH JV have given counter guarantees and indemnities to Sime Darby, proportionate to their respective interests in the MCH JV:-
i. Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd.
ii. Sinohydro Corporation
iii. WCT Engineering Berhad
iv. MTD Capital Berhad
The abovementioned Corporate Guarantee and Letter of Indemnity issued will have no material financial impact on the Sime Darby Group unless they are called upon.
This announcement is dated 25 August 2011.
________________________
Bursa Malaysia-General Announcement
Company Name :SIME DARBY BERHAD
Stock Name :SIME
Date Announced :30/05/2007
Type : Announcement
Subject : Provision of financial assistance in the ordinary course of business
(Announcement pursuant to Practice Note No.11/2001 Paragraph 3.1)
Contents :
Sime Darby Berhad (“Sime Darby”) had, on 28th February 2007, announced that it had during the quarter ended 31st December 2006, issued a Letter of Guarantee and Indemnity to Sarawak Hidro Sdn. Bhd. (“Sarawak Hidro”):-
i. to guarantee the due repayment of a RM200 million additional advance payment (“the Additional Advance”) granted by Sarawak Hidro to the Malaysia-China Hydro Joint Venture (“MCH JV”); and
ii. to indemnify the Directors of Sarawak Hidro from all consequences, liabilities, damages or losses which they may suffer as a result of their agreeing to provide the Additional Advance to the MCH JV.
Sime Darby wishes to announce that, to-date, the said Letter of Guarantee and Indemnity has not been withdrawn or cancelled.
The Additional Advance was granted by Sarawak Hidro to the MCH JV to be used towards the completion of the Works as scheduled under the Bakun Hydroelectric Project.
Sime Darby has an effective interest of 25% in the MCH JV. The parties to the MCH JV and their interests therein are as follows:-
i. Sinohydro Corporation (30% of the MCH JV)
ii. the Sime Joint Venture (70% of the MCH JV), comprising:-
a. Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd. (51% of the Sime Joint Venture)
b. Edward & Sons (EM) Sdn. Bhd. (5% of the Sime Joint Venture)
c. the WMAI Joint Venture (44% of the Sime Joint Venture), comprising:-
aa. WCT Engineering Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
bb. MTD Capital Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
cc. Ahmad Zaki Resources Berhad (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
dd. Syarikat Ismail Ibrahim Sdn. Bhd. (25% of the WMAI Joint Venture)
Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sime Engineering Services Berhad, which in turn is 70%-owned by Sime Darby.
The following parties in the MCH JV have given counter indemnities to Sime Darby, proportionate to their respective interests in the MCH JV:-
i. Sime Engineering Sdn. Bhd.
ii. Sinohydro Corporation
iii. WCT Engineering Berhad
iv. MTD Capital Berhad
The abovementioned guarantee and indemnity provided will have no material financial impact on the Sime Darby Group unless the guarantee and indemnity are called upon.
This announcement is dated 30th May 2007.
_____________________________
A. Maklumat Syarikat: :
Company Name : EDWARD AND SONS (EM) SDN. BHD.
Address : BLOCK 5, 2ND FLOOR LOT 2495 & 2496 BOULEVARD COMMERCIAL CENTRE
Postcode 98000
Town : MIRI
State: SARAWAK
Telephone: 082-424506
B. Maklumat Pendaftaran :
CIDB :
i) No Pendafataran : 1960417-SR001109
ii) Tarikh Luput Pendaftaran : 29-01-2006
ii) Gred : G7
D. Maklumat Ahli Lembaga Pengarah:
Bil Nama Warganegara Jawatan
1.YB JOSEPH SALANG AK GANDUM MALAYSIA PENGARAH
2.STANLEY AJANG BATOK MALAYSIA PENGARAH
G.Modal Berbayar / Modal Terkumpul :
a.Modal Dibenarkan (RM):
b.Modal Berbayar / Modal Terkumpul (RM): 3,000,000.00
H.Maklumat Projek:
Bil Tajuk Tarikh Anugerah Nilai (RM) Klien
1. RM
2. Projek Menurap Jalan-Jalan Di Skim Penempatan Bakun, Sungai Asap, Belaga, 25-07-2002 RM 18,009,368.00 JKR SARAWAK
3. Proposed Marudi Water Supply – Phase 11 Civil Engineering Works 01-11-2000 RM 11,528,618.10 JKR SARAWAK
4. Construction, Completion & Commissioning Of Booster Pumping Station Including M&E Works, R.C. Reservior & Access Road, Supply & Delivery Of Pipes, Pipelaying & Other Associated Works, Bekenu Water Supply Phase III, 21-09-2000 RM 8,800,000.00 JKR SARAWAK
5. Prop. Mlng Canteen Renovation / Extension On Lot 29, Block 20, Kemena Land District, Bintulu, Sarawak 13-10-1998 RM 1,565,319.60
6. CN 589106 – Prov. Of Minor Const. Services For Erb West Metering & SJPM Tie-In To Erb West Project, Sabah. (L) 15-05-1997 RM 952,817.00
7. Provision Of Minor Onshore & Offshore Const. Services For Samarang Field (Samarang Modifcations – Kinabalu Tie-In Works) 09-01-1997 RM 12,892,343.00
8. Road & Estate Maintenance Services- Miri/Lutong (Road Const./Repair), Serawak. (L). 03-10-1996 RM 3,056,312.00
_____________________
A. Maklumat Syarikat: :
Company Name : LINGKARAN LUAR BUTTERWORTH (PENANG) SDN. BHD.
Address : NO. 52, 1ST FLOOR JALAN SS 21/58 DAMANSARA UTAMA
Postcode 47400
Town : PETALING JAYA
State: SELANGOR
B. Maklumat Pendaftaran :
CIDB :
i) No Pendafataran : 1981224-SL050264
ii) Tarikh Luput Pendaftaran : 13-07-2009
ii) Gred : G7
D. Maklumat Ahli Lembaga Pengarah:
Bil Nama Warganegara Jawatan
1.DATO’ MOHD HUSSAINI BIN HAJI ABDUL JAMIL MALAYSIA PENGARAH
2.DATO’ YEOH OON CHENG MALAYSIA PENGARAH
3.DATO’ ZAINI BIN ISMAIL MALAYSIA PENGARAH
4.Y.B. JOSEPH SALANG ANAK GANDUM MALAYSIA PENGARAH
5.NAZRI BIN AWANG HAD MALAYSIA PENGARAH
6.TAN SRI DATO’ DR AWANG HAD BIN SALLEH MALAYSIA PENGARAH
7.STANLEY AJANG BATOK MALAYSIA PENGARAH
G.Modal Berbayar / Modal Terkumpul :
a.Modal Dibenarkan (RM):
b.Modal Berbayar / Modal Terkumpul (RM): 93,000,000.00
H.Maklumat Projek:
Bil Tajuk Tarikh Anugerah Nilai (RM) Klien
1. Membina Dan Menyiapkan Jalan Lingkaran Luar Butterworth Package 3 & Package 4 RM
2. Rekabentuk, M & M Projek Penswastaan Jln Lingkaran Luar Butterworth, Pakej 1B – Pemb. Jambatan Sg Prai & Jln Tuju (L) 02-08-1999 RM 275,926,851.10
3. Rekabentuk, M & M Projek Penswastaan Jln Lingkaran Luar Butterworth, Pakej 1B – Pemb. Jambatan Sg Prai & Jln Tuju 02-08-1999 RM 275,926,851.10
_____________________
Bakun: Project is commercially viable
The Star, Tuesday, 27 November 2007.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bakun hydroelectric dam is a commercially viable project, said Synergy Drive Bhd president and group chief executive Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid.
This was especially true with the high price of crude oil, he added. Crude oil per barrel has almost touched US$100 per barrel on the Nymex for January delivery.
“Gas prices follow crude oil prices closely and half the country’s power is generated by gas, about 40% by coal and less than 10% by hydroelectric sources,” Zubir said.
He also said power generated by hydroelectric means was proven to be cost efficient and stable. Unlike coal, it was a sustainable and renewable form of energy source.
Besides consolidation in the company’s plantations and property development divisions, energy would play an important role to Synergy Drive’s growth strategy in enabling it to develop recurrent cash flows in the medium to long term.
“With Bakun operational, revenue stream from the division would increase substantially from what we’ve derived so far from our Port Dickson power plant and another power plant in Thailand,” Zubir said.
On the cost-efficiency of Bakun, he said the company had approached consultants and at the same time was talking to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) on the power purchase agreement (PPA).
Zubir cautioned that the rates would be competitive at 2012 prices, without compromising on major stakeholders’ expectations as well as the company’s internal hurdle rates. Two of the major stakeholders in Synergy Drive are Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund.
“Our foray into the power sector is for the long term, therefore our agreement with TNB must be balanced out based on a long-term relationship,” he said, adding that each PPA generally lasted 30 years.
Zubir said the company was committed to delivering the first 800MW from Bakun by 2013.
Peninsular Malaysia – Power Demand & Supply graph
On financing the undersea cable component of the Bakun project, he said Synergy Drive as a group was in an enviable financial position not to incur high borrowings due to sufficient cash reserves and the high crude palm oil prices.
“But we’re not resting on our laurels, we’re developing Bakun because palm oil may be the flavour of the month so we need to derive other earnings stream to maintain our revenue targets and Bakun fits perfectly,” Zubir.
He said while the company was known as an established plantation player, the energy division would play a significant role in boosting and diversifying its earnings as it had been identified as one of the group’s core businesses.
“We’re a local-based conglomerate with a global reach,” Zubir said, adding that 50% of its revenue was derived from overseas.
_____________________
Dr M: Responsibility for Sime Darby losses should be shared
The Star, Wednesday May 19, 2010
PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has claimed that the cost overruns in the Bakun project were almost RM1.8bil and said the responsibility for the Sime Darby fiasco should be shared.
“The Bakun hydro project was given to Sime Darby and a Chinese partner at RM1.8bil. Now, the CEO has been dismissed because of cost overruns in the project, amounting to RM900mil.
“But I believe, and Sime Darby can correct me, the overruns are more than that because the Government has already compensated Sime Darby with about RM700mil.
“So the total cost overruns would be almost equal to the bidded price of RM1.8bil. The price has been doubled,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his blog, chedet Wednesday.
“How come the bid is so low? I would think the engineers would know that they would not be able to build at RM1.8bil. Who are the consultants in Sime Darby? How come they okayed such a low cost for the project?” he asked.
He said the responsibility for the overruns should be shared: “Is it only the CEO who was responsible? Who are the others who were involved with the project and failed to see that the cost overruns were very high and the project has been delayed by almost three years.
“I think responsibility should be shared. I was told of this cost overrun and delay three years ago,” Dr Mahathir wrote.
Meanwhile, Sime Darby chairman Tun Musa Hitam told a news portal Wednesday that he would quit if required to, in wake of the conglomerate’s huge first-quarter losses.
“When I have made my own assessment, if necessary, yes, I am prepared,” he said.
He added, however, that it was up to the shareholders to decide whether board members should also be made to resign.
Last week, the board asked president and group CEO Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid to take a leave of absence, prior to the expiry of his contract in November this year.
This came after Sime Darby reported RM964mil in cost overruns from projects, including the Bakun dam project, racked up during his tenure.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said last week there would be no cover-up of any weaknesses or losses at Sime Darby.
The cost overruns were discovered by a board work-group assessing the corporate governance and performance of Sime Darby’s energy and utiliies division.
_________________________
Bakun cost over-runs: Sime Darby claims extra RM700 mln for Bakun
Borneo Post, 11 May 2010
KUCHING: Malaysia’s multinational conglomerate involved in plantations, property, industrial, motors, healthcare as well as energy and utilities Sime Darby Bhd (Sime Darby) has put in a claim of RM700 million from the government in relation to the Bakun project, an addition to an earlier claim of RM708 million.
In its research report, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd (CIMB Investment) remained negative on this issue because in the past the group had a briefing to refute potential cost overruns on this project as well as the revelation of a substantial cost overrun when the project was 96 per cent completed.
The research house also pointed out if the claim was approved, the total cost of the civil works portion of the project would rise to RM3.2 billion from RM1.8 billion, adding that part of the additional costs could have been due to claims by the mechanical and engineering contractors.
It added that under the terms of contract, Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd (Sarawak Hidro), the owner of the project had the option to impose on the civil contractors led by Sime Darby, a back-to-back claim made by the mechanical and electrical contractors.
In addition, CIMB Investment said that Sarawak Hidro had the right to claim up to 20 per cent of the original project cost from the contractors due to the late delivery of the project. As such, the maximum amount for late delivery worked out to be RM360 million for the Sime Darby-led consortium.
In total, the research firm noted the additional loss from the project could be as high as RM1 billion but the loss could be contained at RM300 million if the additional submitted claims of RM700 million were approved and all other claims against the company were dropped.
In addition, it gathered that the handover had been further delayed to December this year from an earlier deadline of June, which meant the project was 36 months behind schedule.
Furthermore, the quantum of additional loss that the Sime Darby-led consortium had to account for in its upcoming results would depend largely on the government’s willingness to reimburse the additional costs uncovered by the group and waiving all the late-delivery charges that it was entitled to for this project.
However, there was an indication that the group was only willing to absorb RM300 million or 15 per cent of total estimated cost overruns of RM1.7 billion.
Nevertheless, the research house said it was unclear if this was on top of the RM364 million it had provided earlier in the middle of 2006.
Additionally, its view was that the government was unlikely to absorb all the new cost overruns as it attributed these to the poor management of the project and doing so might set a poor precedent for future government projects.
CIMB Investment highlighted that based on its estimates, the group might have to write off potentially between RM107 million and RM227 million from this project due to its 35.7 per cent share of the project, resulting in a four per cent to 8.4 per cent cut to its current year earnings estimates for Sime Darby.
However, it still retained its earnings forecast, which did not include the potential loss from Bakun, as the losses were still to be confirmed.
It remained concerned about the issue as it would negatively impact the sentiment in the stock and investors’ confidence.
Furthermore, it also remained unclear if the government had relieved the consortium of the obligation to pay late delivery charges.
On a related note, although the research house liked the efforts put in by the group to improve efficiency at its various core divisions, these were likely to be overshadowed by the revelation and the handling of the Bakun issues, which would dampen near term earnings momentum.
Although the stocks price over earnings valuation might be more attractive than its peers, it was offset by earnings downside risks due to the Bakun project.
It maintained its RM9.70 per share target price based on a 10 per cent discount to its sum-of-parts value.
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Sime Darby Plans RM100 Million Oil Palm Plantations In Sarawak’s NCR Land
Bernama, July 09, 2009
SARIKEI, July 9 (Bernama) — Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd is set to invest an initial RM100 million to develop oil palm plantations on Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands in Julau, about 55 kilometers from here.
Its Plantation Agency and Consultation head Mohd Helmy Othman Basha said the project would cover an area of about 20,000 hectares.
“This is is our first project in Sarawak and incidentally on the state’s Native Customary Rights land.
“The project will be in a joint ventureship with landowners from 109 longhouses in three areas namely KJD/Lower Julau, Sungai Julau/Sungai Pitoh and Merurun/Meluan/Entabai,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Representing the landowners at the joint venture agreement signing ceremony at a community hall here was the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA). Present was State Land Development Minister Datuk Sri Dr James Jemut Masing.
Helmy said the preparatory work would begin after Sime Darby had done and submitted the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment report to the authority concerned.
“We expect to begin in a month’s time after this. However, we are very pleased that so far there have been very positive responses from the landowners concerned.
“But we will continue to explain the joint ventureship concept further and to more others. Let the people have very clear understanding for them to appreciate and accept, and for us to proceed smoothly,” he said.
In the joint venture, Sime Darby will hold 60 percent equity while the landowners 30 percent and LCDA 10 percent.
Helmy said the target was for Sime Darby to develop around 50,000 hectares in Sarawak and another 50,000 hectares in Sabah.
In a speech earlier, Dr Masing told people in the area not to doubt Sime Darby’s ability.
“We are looking at a very well established and leading multinational conglomerate which has about 100 years experience in developing not only oil palm but also rubber plantations in Sabah and the Peninsular.
“Sime Darby too has more than 560,000 hectares under oil palm plantations in the country and in Indonesia,” he said.
“I am very optimistic of the success of this joint venture provided the landowners concerned give their fullest co-operation to Sime Darby and LCDA which is looking after their rights and interests,” he added.
Dr Masing said a representative chosen from among the landowners would be appointed to sit on the joint venture’s board of management to keep them informed on any latest developments.
He said the landowners would stand to gain as through the plantation they could find jobs and business oportunities and receive dividends and bonuses when the crop is harvested.
At the same time, he said, they could enjoy better infrastructure facilities like roads as the company would have to build more roads into the interiors affected.
“Best of all, each individual landowner will know the exact size and location of his or her land which will be officially recognised,” he said.– BERNAMA
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Sime Darby to develop plantations on Sarawak’s NCR land
The Edge Financial Daily, December 8, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: SIME DARBY BHD’s unit, Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd, has acquired the entire stake in Nature Ambience Sdn Bhd from Common Enhance Sdn Bhd for RM16.82 million in a move that will allow it to develop oil palm plantations in Sarawak on native customary rights (NCR) land.
In a statement yesterday, Sime Darby said: “The acquisition will enable the Sime Darby group to develop oil palm plantations in Sarawak under the state government’s new concept of development for NCR land, in conjunction with Sarawak’s Land Custody and Development Authority (Pelita) and the natives holding native customary rights in the land.
“It is the intention of the group to adopt a differentiated approach to cultivate the NCR land, which is to be developed pursuant to the NCR joint-venture agreement, in compliance with the relevant guidelines issued by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.”
It added Nature Ambience, which was incorporated in December 2008 and would be principally involved in oil palm cultivation and palm oil production, had on Oct 2, 2009, been granted approval from Sarawak’s ministry of land development to invest in or develop 26,211ha of NCR land in Kapit and Julau in accordance with the state government’s new concept of development on NCR Land.
Sime Darby said in the approval letter, the state’s ministry of land development had asked Pelita to issue a formal offer letter to Nature Ambience incorporating the basic terms and conditions to be entered into between relevant parties, the NCR joint-venture (JV) agreement, subsequent to the confirmation of interest by Nature Ambience.
It said the JV was expected to be between Nature Ambience, as a JV vehicle, Sime Plantation and Pelita’s subsidiary, Pelita Holdings Sdn Bhd, acting for itself and as trustee for the natives holding the rights in the NCR land.
Under the NCR land development scheme, the equity structure of the JV held by the investor, landowners and trustee would be 60:30:10, it added.
Meanwhile, Sime Darby said the scheme was an effort by the Sarawak state government to bring together the landowners with their land and the private sector with its capital and expertise to develop the land for commercial farming on a joint-venture basis, for the benefit of both parties.
“The objective of the NCR land projects is to turn idle NCR land into productive commercial assets and enhance equitable economic wealth distribution in the state,” it said.
It said the development of the land involved the merger of contiguous plots of NCR land into one parcel of land, with the agreement of the landowners. A leasehold title would then be issued to the land in favour of a JV for a period of 60 years or two planting cycles.
As consideration for the use of the land, the NCR landowners would be allocated a 30% equity in the JV company, with Pelita acting as trustee, in addition to its own 10% equity interest in the JV, it said
Invitation: Please find time to Google and download this Report: "Land is Life: Land Rights and Oil Palm Development in Sarawak" by Marcus Colchester,Wee Aik Pang,Wong Meng Chuo and Thomas Jalong first published in 2007 by Forest Peoples Programme and Perkumpulan SawitWatch.
Many of the things you may want to know about what's has been happening to NCR land and the palm oil industry in Sarawak are contained in this Report. You'll uncover many facts gathered in the field that may shock you!
It leaves me wondering if the present Government can't be trusted and be responsible over protecting NCR land for the many communities involved,, then who can? What is the role of government?
everyone happy cashing in from the proceed…..all the majority are happy…y you think they voted for the ruling paarties and the leaders.everyone have the trickle down effect…so what say yo on all the issue,noone is buying…..hahahha…all just gila babi only…..noone is taking your report seriously..even yoyr readers are only 11,000……so pethetic because sarawakians cant be bordered.everyone are so happy and enjoying life.and the babi hutan are fat because they eat the sawit…..so its really good time to go hunting….why the fuss when noone cares.sarawakians loves tain and B.N.what you guys want to say.SARAWAKIAANS AND TAIB ARE ONE…ONE LEADER ONE STATE ONE PEOPLE.hehehehehehe…..all happy one big family…if you are not happy you are not in the family.
A piglet is a small animal with a pea brain and this one has all the symptoms of verbal disorder and he could only oink his way to his message across. What a pathetic gibberish piglet!
eh big/mega/besar brain….no one is buyinglah your smartarse….they all working for taib and gang…why you just wont want to admit the fact of the matter….sarawakians dont buy your smartness they are one big happy family and daddy taib is the father of all sarawakians…hahahahaha…your upset with me cause i speak the truth….and the fact of the matter.show me otherwise if not you shut the fuck up…oing oing….weakkk….just go and pangang the babi hutan or buy it at jalan bakun…..so nice to go with the sepuluh tiga tin….and drive all the way to miri….make sure you get a bottle of maggi chilli garlic source….this is real good babi hutan…gali babi punya….you think the dayaks care so much…its all about the babi panganglah bro…….TAIB IS DADDY AND WE ALL HIS ANAK BUAH……HELLO DADY MY BELOVED DADY TAIB….WE SARAWAKIANS WILL VOTE FOR YOU AGAIN DONT WORRY…EVEN OUR BROTHER BAKIR ALSO WE VOTE…LOVE YOU.PLEASE WE ALL ARE ONE HAPPY FAMILY.SATU SARAWAK.
Sarawak Report,
Now that Sime Darby has issued its response, what is your take on it? I am keen to unravel this as well.
"But Sachs, special advisor to the UN Secretary General and former director of the UN Millennium Project, says he never actually did any PR for the operation: Absolutely nothing is going on here. I am in no way, shape or form a representative of any company, including Sime Darby. Interesting story regarding what they might have wanted (I have no idea if it’s accurate), but I don’t work for them or any other company. I do not receive (nor have I ever sought) a penny from them. I visited their plantation during a few hours on one day, at their invitation, as part of an honorary professorship that I held at the University of Malaya. I indeed went to Sarawak to better understand the problems of sustainability and poverty in the region, including the problems of deforestation. I agreed with Sime Darby officials that the Earth Institute would help them, if they sought help, to design a science-based, ecologically sound program for sustainable palm oil under the framework of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. It seems that not much has come of this. I have had no contact whatsoever with the company for probably more than one year, perhaps two years, except perhaps one of their representatives being on a group phone call with the Earth Institute. (Don’t hold me to the precise dates; I’m just estimating). They are part of a group of companies that participate in a quarterly phone conference call with the Earth Institute regarding global sustainability challenges. This is a one to two hour quarterly briefing on global scientific and policy developments."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1111/_Gree…
why u gagor here and there,the sarawakians are all happy about it.WE SARAWAKIANS LOVE OUR LEADER,HE IS NOT CORRUPT….HE IS SUCH A GOOD AND CARING LEADER THAT HE DEVELOPED THE WHOLE STATE AND CULTIVATE IT WITH SAWIT…SO WE CAN GO WEWIT…DON BE UPSET NOTHING IS WRONG WITH SARAWAKIANS WE ALL LOVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAIB AND THE FAMILY…IF WE CAN WE CONTINUE TO VOTE HIM ANOTHER 30ODD YEARS..SO WHAT ARE YOU AND THE REST OF THE WORLD DO ABOUT IT…WE LOVE HIM AND THE WAY HE DOES THINGS…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..HEHEHEHEHE.
ADMINISTRATOR….WHY D0 YOU NOT LEAVE MY PI8CE OF MIND ALONE….COS I M GILA BABI…WWITH THE WHOLE THING.
You are definitely gila babi as you claimed. When you are so comfortable,you will not see the discomfort of others and you will mistakenly believed that everyone else is as comfortable as you are because you are blinded by your own comfort. I'm quite certain that you are just trying too hard to justify certain actions of yours which you are feeling guilty about. Perhaps it is the coffee money that you fleeced from the babi seller this morning or the monthly gifts from certain individual that goes to your pork chop? You try too hard to defend taib but there are still too many questions mr taib himself has not answered. You can deny whatever,however,wherever, whenever,forever that he does not do this do that but only taib, your master himself can put all to rest if he can come clean on all these allegations. So don't try to defend him too hard to defend him. I don't think he wants you to do that for him unless he owns you? Don't laugh too loud lest you expose too much of yourself.
hahahahaha…..i smell the babi pangang in the long house…and some nice langau…and yes they are singging my favorite iban song…yahooo…..mari meh kita belagu,labang hati sayu….sayau meh aku gau taib apai kitai bak sarawak……aram meh girup anang malu janik manah gau garam kasar…yum yum yum…..bisik lagu manah chak…aram meh….diatu ku mintak diri…pun manak josephine jalin…..lagu megrinduk kah hati…..teaser you not dayak you dont know lah how babi pangang is…who care taib is good very good to the dayaks he is father to the dayka…hahahahahahahaha…ask jabu…or masing or mawan or linggi….apai dayak sarawak meh taib tk chank ahh……
You are a traitor of the Iban people, like JABU, masing and mawan. The demons or apple polishers of Taik, the Devil!
every sarawakians loves taib….you blunt speaker a loser….loser….loser…..you nothing,you were not selected for calon by jabu masing mawan or mayin.hahahaha…you are so frustrated but all the sarawakians loves taib and the geng.comes election we sarawakians will voted him.we dont care about all this,its nothing to us as long we are happy and have babi to pangang to eat and some girup…we are o.k.you upset because nuan nadai kena pilih yadi calon.kakakakakakakah…
Give you some rotten babi to panggang, a few cans of beer or cheap langkau, a small bribe of rm 50, you will vote for the devil! How cheap is cheap? Pathetic and hopeless humans! Manusia yang tak guna,dan tak ada harapan!
thank you taib mahmuh for dibilopment bak sarawak,nuan amat manah gau kami basar dayak.diatu babi semua mayuh isik labang makai sawit…nak kurus baka suba….terima kasih gagai nuan ketui menteri kami.we lov taib,dayak love taib….iban love taib sarawakians love taib…all the people who dont are just jealous because taib dont give them project.they don care about sarawak at all not like taib and his geng….we love them and will vote for them again.no matter what,we all feel its dibilopment for sarawak.we nyukong him all the waylah.
Just read SD's defense. It is obviously a piece written by their PR/CSR department, and makes it all looks firm yet honey sweet.
It all communicates one single message, namely the conventional planters' mantra: we take the land, start bulldozing and we will address them as when and where they arise. Meanwhile, efforts may be undertaken to address problems on the ground, if and when they arise, including plain PR.
Let's not forget that SD's operations in Sarawak have not yet been certified. The no-NCR claim is yet to be verified. And let's not forget that we cannot trust RSPO auditors: they are paid by the company and their audit reports are reviewed by RSPO staff who have a dubious record of independence.
This is not to mention that SD has taken on the Malaysian Palm Oil Council director on its board. The MPOC has now four times seen commercials banned in the EU.
Meanwhile, Sachs failed to make any effort to consult with stakeholders on the ground and he has not demonstrated efforts to unnerve FBC's PR yadiya before Sarawak Report exposed the scam.
Until Sachs goes out to meet SD's victims and comes out to share his enriched expertise, there are no grounds for anybody to clean his slate.
SR did a great job in exposing this issue!
Let Sachs show what he really stands for!
Meanwhile, SD: what are your plans for expansion in Sarawak and Cameroon?
Please expose more Sarawak report and leave NO stone unturn please.
Latest..Senior Police Officer in Miri has been arrested for extorting money from massage parlour.Police these days are also corrupted and USELESS,ill trained always think that they are above the law..Too bad.
ya police also gila babi…macc also gila babi…..only you guys not…alll sarawakians are gila babi…..hahahhaa they all want taib and b.n.see you guys in the coming election bet you all losers.but gila babis will be all of you all soo……hahahahaha.i hope i agitate all of you losers because all of us in sararak are gila babi punya geng all out to make sure tiab and the dayaks leaders win this election bacacuse we still want atib to be the c.m of the dayaks.
normal practice,they have been doing its all this time……and if they go around arresting the police force,we dont have police man anymore.all in for corruption.
pussy cat…No,people don't arrest innocent and clean foolishman ops..Policeman.It is hard to find an HONEST policeman these days especially locals are mixing with those from Malaya who cannot even speak English.
DPP and Judge in Terengganu are also being arrested for corruption..why,why?? We just don;t have honest people doing an honest job because corruption begins at the TOP. Read the newspaper and you will know that it is TRUE..
It sounds like you pussy cat is a policewoman..ha ha ha
people who eat babi are less likely to be corrupt then those who dont eat babi.thats why the dayks leaders are not as evil as the non dayak leaders,namely tawi seli and stephen kalong ningkan,God bless their soul.the rets none babi eating c.m are so corrupt till the soul.you know why….shaking steven,satan and demons cannot stay inside people who eat babi,because its is haram hahahahahahahahahahahaha….dont you think thats a good one..the joke…..so lets all encourage our dayaks to eat babi…and buy from my gerai in pasar pujut..hehehehehehehe…or contak me apai janik….try my babi kasam from belaga…i am sure you like it…i also got salai….yum yum yum to make supp….not party supp…salai babi supp lah.hehehehehehehe…we dayak have to enjoy our babi,because our land taken our frest cleared but dont let them take our culture,without babi the dayak lose their culture and identity and dayakness.
CUTTING THE NOSE TO SPITE THE FACE…..HOW STUPID