Compliance and Rhetoric in Sustainability Reports Published by A Malaysian Plantation Company

Publishing sustainability reports have been mandatory in most countries, including Malaysia, where all publicly listed companies must disclose their sustainability activities since 2007, as gazetted in the Bursa Malaysia Listing Requirements, Ministry of Finance 2006. In addition, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework was established to report corporate sustainability initiatives to include four focal areas: Environment, Workplace, Community, and Marketplace. Based on critical genre analysis, this article examines the discursive practices in disclosing these reports published by one plantation company by identifying the reports’ generic structure and reporting style. The results show that the disclosure complies with the Listing Requirements, and the discourse employs modern rhetoric, a form of subtle persuasion supported with facts and figures. Therefore, it can be concluded that these sustainability reports are more than just paying lip service.