SD Guthrie denies Indonesian estates caused fires

PETALING JAYA:

SD Guthrie has denied allegations that its Indonesian subsidiaries or employees caused forest and land fires, saying its latest ground checks found no active fires on its estates in the country.

The plantation group said in a statement today that the allegations were not “supported by credible evidence”.

“Some of the companies mentioned in public reports as affiliates of Guthrie are not owned, managed or controlled by the group,” it said.

“Any outdated or incorrect attribution to Guthrie should be corrected, as it is misleading.”

It said the reports appeared to rely on outdated Indonesian plantation concession maps, known as Hak Guna Usaha maps, that did not reflect current ownership or boundaries, and that the oil palms in the areas concerned were young and productive.

“There would, therefore, be no operational rationale for burning them for land clearing, and their age profile is wholly inconsistent with any suggestion that the group deliberately started the fires,” it said.

Guthrie said it had maintained a zero-burning policy across its operations since 1985 and was committed to no deforestation, no development on peatland and no exploitation.

Its Indonesian subsidiary, Minamas Plantation, has 67 firefighting teams with 1,005 trained personnel, supported by drone and infrared monitoring, the group said. It spends an estimated 3.5 billion rupiah (RM800,000) a month on these resources.

Between January and September, the teams responded to and extinguished 2,411 fires, of which 2,376 were on community land, it said.

Guthrie said its efforts to tackle fires outside its concessions should not be taken as evidence that it caused them.

“Fires which happen within Guthrie’s concession area are detected early with action taken immediately to extinguish them,” it said.

Guthrie said it would continue working with the relevant Indonesian authorities and called for corrections to “any inaccurate data or ownership attribution”.

“Guthrie remains open to constructive engagement with relevant stakeholders towards the shared objective of preventing fires and protecting communities and the environment,” it said.

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