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INTEGRATED CASE STUDY (PAS3183)

SEMESTER APRIL 2023
PRACTICE -1

KUALA LUMPUR (March 9, 2021): Industry experts have questioned the absence of direct
evidence against Sime Darby Plantation Bhd. (SDP) on unsubstantiated forced-labour allegations,
according to a report by Asia Times today. The news portal added that pressure is mounting on
US officials to provide evidence to support a ban slapped on SDP, one of the world's largest
producers of sustainable palm oil, after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a
Withhold Release Order (WRO) last year following information supplied by anti-trafficking group
Liberty Shared.

According to the report, industry experts highlighted the lack of details of interviews with
workers the non-governmental organisation had purportedly conducted, as well as dates, names
or specific locations to back up its claims. To recap, on March 1, SDP established an Expert
Stakeholder Human Rights Assessment Commission and appointed Impact Ltd as a third-party
assessor to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the group's labour practices across its
Malaysian operations. SDP added that the commission will also comprise a stakeholder
consultation panel which will be providing additional views on Impact's assessment
methodology, lending further credibility to the entire process. The panel also is expected to
review whether or not forced labour indicators are detected within the group's operations, and if
there are any, to determine how prevalent the issue is, said the group.

"The well-being of our 30,000 workers is of paramount importance to us and thus, our focus is to
address the WRO and to understand what the actual allegations against us are, so we can take
corrective measures where necessary. "We are very conscious that it has been nearly a year since
the petition was filed, a year during which we could have closed any gaps in the implementation
of our policies, had we received the necessary information. "Thus far, useful information from the
actual complainant has not been forthcoming," an SDP representative told Asia Times.
Meanwhile, M R Chandran, a founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, called
the ban "baffling".

"In the case of SDP, many of their mills are certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon
Certification, or ISCC, and the group itself has ISO certifications. “They have multiple certifications
and it is puzzling because the allegations indicated that the auditors of all the certifications were
not doing their job," he said. According to the report, while full details of the allegations against
SDP have not yet been published by either Liberty Shared or the CBP, the former's petition shared
similarities with a report called "Cruel Outcomes" that it published last September, three months
before the petition was filed. The report contained a chart of International Labour Organization
indicators that also appeared in the petition.

However, while the "Cruel Outcomes" report used this chart to record alleged failures by FGV
Holdings Bhd, SDP, IOI Group and Wilmar International Ltd, the petition submitted to the CBP
used the same chart to suggest failures by SDP alone. The CBP has declined to go into specific
details of SDP's case, saying that it had "had communications" with representatives of Sime Darby.
 2

Required:

a. Identify and explain influencing factors on the engagement of human rights violations by
Sime Darby Plantation Bhd.

b. Critically analyse the impact of unethical practices on Sime Darby Plantation Bhd's
environment.

c. Recommend how Sime Darby Plantation Bhd.'s can remain competitive in the global
market.

d. Summarize the major FIVE (5) strengths and weakness of the Darby Plantation Bhd.'s