Its been a month since I have been in Sabah to pull off what is seen as an almost impossible feat of “making history” to be one of the first few pioneers to be RSPO certified

Imagine about a year plus of hard work, sweat and persistance…all just summarized in 4 days. It feeels like those exam marathons I used to undertake back when I was in undergraduate school. Ok, not quite. There were more “mamak” sessions with friends and more people to bitch to.

Then again, isn’t this the highlight and crux of what the RSPO has always been to producers? To get certified oil. This article is a review about the actual audit process. I am not in the position to give you the “exact scorecard” on how well or badly we fared, I think that is best left when the actual results come out. I can just say that we did better than expected, but not good enough to please the bosses.

Its amusing how so much work can be put to test within a few days.

The audit was quite head on to the RSPO Principles and Criteria National Interpretation. Although I have to note that it would have been better if the auditors or representatives from the audit bodies were to attend the National Interpretation session to get a better feel of what was the spirit of the initial P&C.

Some things I personally felt were taken out of context. The audit was done in quite a cordial manner. We knew the auditors as they did our pre-assessment. So, it wasn’t too hostile.

The auditor’s main concern was environmental issues mainly. The social bit was not too harsh but we could have certainly did better.

Still, I believe the audit was fruitful with some main gaps identified. Would I have done as good as job as them? Can I measure up as a RSPO auditor? To a certain extent yes, I think I am quite confident to handle social issues, safety and health and a little bit of agriculture practices. The environmental bit, I am still a bit raw although I did learn a fair bit on using birds and surrounding flora and fauna species as indicators of biodiversity. In terms of interpretation of the P&C, I think I would have very little problem.

Still, I always adopt a “beginner’s mind” in these things. There’s always so much to learn from different people with different perspectives and angles. At times, even my boss amazes me with obscure facts. I guess all these comes with time and experience. Until then, the fuel hike is really burning my pocket.

Ouch.

We will see where all this takes us. I believe that whatever happens, happens for the better good. Until then, I will just soldier on and do the best that I can do in whatever I do.