...Wilmar commissioned Earthworm Foundation (EF) in September 2018 to conduct a thorough evaluation of issues raised against Wilmar's internal systems on social grievance and resolution at three of its subsidiaries... Wilmar also engaged EF to undertake an investigation into the alleged criminalisation case of a customary leader who was in disagreement with PMJ...

Wilmar acknowledges that there are outstanding issues within the region and internally, there are areas for improvement, based on initial findings by EF. We have begun working on implementing the recommendations by EF to address these gaps whilst continuing engagement with the affected communities and to resolve the related conflicts in Pasaman Barat...

In November 2018, Wilmar agreed with Forest Peoples Program (FPP) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Investigation Monitoring Unit (IMU) to participate in a desktop - based risk assessment related to Wilmar in Pasaman Barat. However, in February 2019, Wilmar voluntarily offered to share summarised findings with FPP and RSPO from the investigation that EF had conducted, which identified multiple specific community-related issues as well as recommendations to address these concerns and move forward to resolutions.

The shared findings were comprehensive and therefore, rendering the earlier agreed-upon exercise redundant. This position was communicated to both FPP and the RSPO when the report was shared in March 2019. Subsequently, we understand that the RSPO decided not to proceed with the earlier agreed-upon assessment as Wilmar was already pursuing a process for resolution. The assertion from the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) on 4 November 2019, with regards to Wilmar’s refusal to cooperate in the previously planned RSPO IMU assessment is therefore misleading...