Delegated Act a harsh trade barrier – Senator
MIRI: Senator Alan Ling has slammed the formulation of Delegated Act by the European Commission as a calculated political move intended to remove Malaysia’s palm oil exports from the European Union ( EU) market.
“It is not so much as an environmental regulation which the European Union chose to undermine us despite the evidence of the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil as we are embarking on a country-wide exercise in the certification process,” he said.
Describing the act as a harsh trade barrier, he said such decision would harm the livelihood of 650,000 small farmers in Malaysia.
Ling argued the basis that palm oil causes deforestation is totally baseless as in actual fact Malaysia still has more than 53 per cent forest cover and wildlife is protected.
Ling, who is also Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak secretary, said he was disappointed by the EU move, adding the Malaysian government under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would act aggressively against the ban in the interest of the palm oil industry which contributed about five per cent of export revenue to the GDP of Malaysia.
“The Ministry of Primary Industries and MPOB (Malaysian Palm Oil Board) are fully with the Prime Minister on his firm stance to retaliate if need arises, simply because this concerns the income of the poor and downtrodden in many interior areas of Malaysia as palm oil is an important or only source of income for the myriad of small farmers,” he said.
On the issue regarding Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil ( MSPO) certification, he said all
It is not so much as an environmental regulation which the European Union chose to undermine us despite the evidence of the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil as we are embarking on a country-wide exercise in the certification process. Senator Alan Ling
oil palm planters must be certified or risk rejection of their fresh fruit bunches by the local refineries which are certified.
He was responding to criticism by smallholders that despite the MSPO certification exercise, the government failed to stop the EU from introducing the legislation to ban palm oil feedstock as biofuel which would continue to depress the price of this commodity.
Ling stressed that the government is now considering imposing regulatory control where only MSPO-certified oil can be exported as part of the national effort to counter the EU’s unfair restrictions and social movement to ban palm oil from Malaysia.
He said that the palm oil industry has always been proactive in promoting sustainable palm oil and the latest move was making MSPO certification mandatory by Dec 31, 2019.
All producers in Malaysia including smallholders will need to meet a broad range of standards that provide an assurance of sustainability and serve as benchmark that the palm oil from Malaysia is responsibly produced with due regards to environment and social considerations.
“The government has allocated funds to assist small farmers to be MSPO- certified and also has Tunas (Tunjuk Ajar dan Nasihat Sawit) officers under MPOB to monitor and guide them in this massive exercise, of which the cooperation of all industry players is needed.”
Ling also said those with MSPO issues can contact MSPO outreach executive in Sarawak, Paren Nyawi, at 016-2592067 for advice.