At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, August 5, the Environmental Rights Foundation (ERF), together with Indonesian environmental organisations AEER and WALHI, and community residents, Indigenous representatives, and workers from Walsin’s Indonesian nickel subsidiary, held a press conference in front of Walsin Lihwa’s headquarters following an in-person meeting with Walsin Lihwa representatives.

Pius Ginting, Executive Director of AEER, stated that while Walsin positions itself as a company supporting renewable energy, in practice its operations remain dependent on fossil fuels and is complicit in coal-driven deforestation in Indonesia’s Kalimantan region. To align with its claimed image as a “renewable energy supporter”, Walsin must immediately halt its use of fossil fuels, especially as the climate crisis and air pollution become increasingly urgent. Additionally, our records show that Walsin subsidiaries have sourced nickel from PT GAG in 2025. PT GAG operates in Indonesia’s Four Kings Islands, referred to as the “Amazon of the Seas” by international media, where nickel mining has sparked widespread public protests. Yet Walsin has not made any public commitment to cease sourcing from PT GAG. We strongly urge Walsin to immediately stop sourcing minerals from ecologically fragile islands such as GAG Island and Mabuli Island.

Adlunfiqri Sigoro, founder of the local community organisation Fakawele, emphasised that nickel mining not only destroys the environment but also results in serious human rights violations, particularly those of Indonesia’s Indigenous communities. We call on companies investing in Indonesia to stop sourcing nickel from problematic mining areas.

Johan Sappara, a worker from Walsin Lihwa’s Indonesian subsidiary Walsin Nickel Industrial Indonesia, voiced that there are numerous workplace issues at Walsin’s Indonesian operations, especially regarding occupational health and safety. These issues have already caused frequent accidents and have resulted in 30% of workers falling ill each month, Johan noted that Walsin’s senior management in Taiwan may be unaware of these conditions. Today, we presented these concerns directly to Walsin’s senior management in Taiwan. SPIM (the Indonesian Morowali Industrial Park Workers’ Union) will continue to monitor the situation and push for these demands until genuine improvements are made.

Hsin Hsuan Sun, Director of Corporate Accountability and International Affairs at ERF, stated that we are pleased that affected Indonesians, who travelled from afar, had the opportunity to meet in person with Walsin Lihwa representatives today, and that the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer and Business Group General Manager also met in person with ERF representatives in May. Since October 2024, ERF has had multiple rounds of correspondence with Walsin, helping to relay local Indonesian demands, requesting in-person meetings with Indonesian stakeholders, and clarifying issues not fully disclosed in the company’s annual and sustainability reports. However, we believe that during nearly a year of communications, only some facts have been clarified, while the majority of concerns remain unanswered.

In today’s meeting, Walsin failed to provide substantive responses or commitments to key demands from Indonesian stakeholders, including: improving labour conditions; the disclosure of real-time air and water pollution data; increasing supplier transparency; establishing human rights and environmental due diligence policies; phasing out of coal; and creating an effective and proactive stakeholder engagement mechanism. Walsin was also unable to commit to convening a stakeholder meeting in Indonesia before the end of 2025. We find this deeply disappointing. As a Taiwanese multinational, Walsin must uphold its sustainability commitments through concrete actions.

We therefore reiterate the joint demands of Taiwanese and Indonesian civil society groups, affected communities, and worker representatives:

• Develop a human rights and environmental due diligence policy applicable across the entire corporate group operations, including Indonesian subsidiaries.

• Establish an effective mechanism for regular, meaningful engagement with local communities and publicly disclose the process and outcomes.

• Conduct comprehensive due diligence across their supply chain and disclose findings to ensure there are no instances of land rights violations, environmental destruction, or labour exploitation.

• Publicly report on the operation, emissions data, and health impacts of their coal-fired power plants.

• Include their Indonesian subsidiaries in the company’s 2050 net-zero strategy and establish a clear timeline for phasing out coal-fired power plants.

• Allow independent third parties to conduct comprehensive assessment of occupational health and safety systems at their Indonesian subsidiaries, especially in departments and work areas related to the incident involving Andri, and ensure workers and unions can participate in the evaluation process.

Media Contact:
Pradnya Paramarini ‪
(+62) 822 4976 1486
pradnya@aeer.or.id