Bukit Bintang Sawit (BBS)

Bukit Bintang Sawit (BBS) is a privately-owned, oil palm Plantation company, headquartered in Jambi, Indonesia.

1) Walhi Jambi’s letter sent to us and other traders directly through email (16 February 2016).

(1) Conflict (land dispute) between Bukit Bintang Sawit (BBS) and communities from three villages in Jambi.

February 2016
We informed BBS regarding the grievance and sought clarification on the issue. We discussed with BBS and urged the supplier to resolve the land dispute given our sustainability policy.

March 2016
We applied “controlled purchase” on BBS, while continuing engagement with BBS, RSPO and Walhi Jambi.

We engaged RSPO to resolve the conflict (land dispute) between BBS and communities from three villages in Jambi. RSPO participated despite BBS not being a member of the RSPO.

We had a meeting with the RSPO Complaints team to update on the progress of our engagement with BBS and received information from RSPO regarding the discussion/ meeting between RSPO, Walhi Jambi and the complainant communities.

May 2016
We had a meeting with Walhi Jambi to understand the details of the conflict. We explained our position regarding the small amount of procurement from this supplier and that our leverage is hence limited. We suggested having a multi-stakeholder approach involving all buyers, local government, etc. to create a focused discussion and exert sufficient influence on the supplier.

We agreed to attend the multi-stakeholder meeting proposed by WALHI, which has yet to occur.

June 2016
The RSPO Secretariat sent a letter to Walhi Jambi to inform them that RSPO has limited authority to handle cases not related to its members. RSPO, on the other hand, has engaged all RSPO members that are linked to BBS’s supply chain to make sure that continuing dialogue is possible. RSPO Secretariat recommended the closure of the case.

October 2016
The mediation efforts by the WALHI, the local government, and the communities failed to resolve the matter. We are waiting for further advice from WALHI to look at how a multi-stakeholder platform could be set up to address concerns.

August 2017
The company replied to Musim Mas stating that it complies with the legal laws and they have cooperated with the local government in doing verification of the concession.

February 2018
The Bupati (Regent) of Muaro Jambi confirmed that they are taking steps to resolve the land conflict by arranging for meetings between the company and the community.