ID :
176222
Mon, 04/18/2011 - 16:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/176222
The shortlink copeid
M'SIA HITS AT AUSSIE MOVE ON MANDATORY LABELLING PALM OIL PRODUCTS
CANBERRA, April 18 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Palm Oil Council has strongly
criticised proposed mandatory labelling legislation while giving evidence before
an Australian Senate Committee hearing here on Monday.
Under the Bill proposed by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, mandatory
labelling would also certify if environmentally-sustainable practices were
behind the production of palm oil.
"Truth in labelling should be driven by health issues, not political
expediency, which is behind some of the campaigns revolving around this Bill,"
said the council's chief executive Dr Yusof Basiron.
But Dr Yusof said environmentalists failed to understand the need to
alleviate poverty in Malaysia.
"It may make the adherents and supporters of Greenpeace and World Wildlife
Fund have a great degree of self-satisfaction when sipping their skinny lattes,
but to 570,000 Malaysians and their families there is no self-satisfaction," he
said.
"Do the international NGOs –- Greenpeace and WWF -– want to keep people in
poverty?"
Dr Yusof, who told the Senate hearing he was representing Malaysia's
Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, said the palm oil industry's
commitment was to sustainability and the industry's growth.
"Non-sustainability would inhibit our industry’s growth," he said.
Dr Yusof also strongly disputed suggestions that palm oil production had
contributed to deforestation, arguing that for every hectare of oil oil trees,
four hectares of permanent forests were preserved.
"Our industry is not a rapacious destroyer of either forests or orang
utans," he said, adding that: "We have been accused of this, we have been
pilloried on it and it is totally inaccurate," he said.
He said oil palm cultivation does not threaten orang utan population in
Malaysia.
Dr Yusof said the proposed Bill would have no benefit to the environment,
forests or orang utan population in Malaysia.
It is unfortunate that the orang utans have been used or more accurately
misused in this debate.
"Our industry is not a rapacious destroyer of either forests or orang
utans," he said.
Forty-three per cent of oil palm plantations were owned by smallholders,
adding that palm oil companies have invested significantly in schools, roads,
water and hospitals for their workers.
The palm oil industry directly employed over half-a-million Malaysians,
with hundreds of thousands more rely on this income.
Dr Yusof said he endorsed the`"formal policy" of the Australian Government
and the Department of Foreign Affairs to support economic development of Asean
countries and in APEC economies by facilitating and promoting economic growth,
trade and investment.
Senator Xenophon's labelling Bill was first introduced in late 2009. The
Senate committee examining the Bill is due to report back to parliament in
mid-June.
criticised proposed mandatory labelling legislation while giving evidence before
an Australian Senate Committee hearing here on Monday.
Under the Bill proposed by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, mandatory
labelling would also certify if environmentally-sustainable practices were
behind the production of palm oil.
"Truth in labelling should be driven by health issues, not political
expediency, which is behind some of the campaigns revolving around this Bill,"
said the council's chief executive Dr Yusof Basiron.
But Dr Yusof said environmentalists failed to understand the need to
alleviate poverty in Malaysia.
"It may make the adherents and supporters of Greenpeace and World Wildlife
Fund have a great degree of self-satisfaction when sipping their skinny lattes,
but to 570,000 Malaysians and their families there is no self-satisfaction," he
said.
"Do the international NGOs –- Greenpeace and WWF -– want to keep people in
poverty?"
Dr Yusof, who told the Senate hearing he was representing Malaysia's
Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, said the palm oil industry's
commitment was to sustainability and the industry's growth.
"Non-sustainability would inhibit our industry’s growth," he said.
Dr Yusof also strongly disputed suggestions that palm oil production had
contributed to deforestation, arguing that for every hectare of oil oil trees,
four hectares of permanent forests were preserved.
"Our industry is not a rapacious destroyer of either forests or orang
utans," he said, adding that: "We have been accused of this, we have been
pilloried on it and it is totally inaccurate," he said.
He said oil palm cultivation does not threaten orang utan population in
Malaysia.
Dr Yusof said the proposed Bill would have no benefit to the environment,
forests or orang utan population in Malaysia.
It is unfortunate that the orang utans have been used or more accurately
misused in this debate.
"Our industry is not a rapacious destroyer of either forests or orang
utans," he said.
Forty-three per cent of oil palm plantations were owned by smallholders,
adding that palm oil companies have invested significantly in schools, roads,
water and hospitals for their workers.
The palm oil industry directly employed over half-a-million Malaysians,
with hundreds of thousands more rely on this income.
Dr Yusof said he endorsed the`"formal policy" of the Australian Government
and the Department of Foreign Affairs to support economic development of Asean
countries and in APEC economies by facilitating and promoting economic growth,
trade and investment.
Senator Xenophon's labelling Bill was first introduced in late 2009. The
Senate committee examining the Bill is due to report back to parliament in
mid-June.
