Felda settlers protest EU palm oil ban
> Planned restriction threatens livelihood of 3.2 million Malaysians
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 1,800 palm oil smallholders took to the streets yesterday to protest against the European Union’s proposed palm oil ban.
Representing the group, National Association of Small Holders president Datuk Aliasak Ambia said the proposed ban would threaten the livelihood of some 650,000 smallholders and over 3.2 million Malaysians who rely on the industry.
“Not only will the rural communities be devastated and thousands be driven into poverty by the proposed restriction, the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals will also be undermined,” he said before submitting a petition signed by tens of thousands of Felda settlers to EU representatives yesterday.
Also present at the submission was Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad, who pointed out that the proposed EU ban on palm oil biofuels, under the Renewable Energy Directive, is discriminatory and must be removed.
Among the demands listed in the petition were for the EU to withdraw the proposed ban immediately and remove all discriminatory provisions against palm oil in the directive.
It also urged the EU to commit to a fair and non-discriminatory approach to palm oil in the future.
In October 2017, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted for an effective ban on all palm oil biofuel exports to the EU after 2021 and an effective exclusion of advanced palm oil biomass from the EU market, all the while allowing other oilseeds to be sold inside the EU until 2030.
The ban was then endorsed by the Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament in November.
Shahrir said the ban was similar to a threat, and described it as economic imperialism as it will deprive the country of its main revenue source.
“They want to subject 3.2 million people who are mostly rural farmers back into poverty,” he said.
He was, however, doubtful the protest would affect the European Parliament’s motion to vote on the matter today.