Sarawak not cowed by multinationals

James Masing says if developed world won’t buy Sarawak’s crude palm oil, then India and China will.

KUCHING: The oil palm industry is “the goose that lays the golden eggs” and the Sarawak Government will not be cowed by reported threats to stop buying its crude palm oil (CPO) on environmental grounds.

Land Minister James Masing made this position clear in response to Cargill Incorporated, a big buyer of CPO from Sarawak, telling CNN on Wednesday that it would reconsider buying the commodity from deforested areas.

“I will not stand still and be bullied by multinationals or developed countries,” said James in a statement. “Sarawak will continue to cultivate its land and make it productive for its people in a sustainable manner.”

He claimed that the oil palm cultivated in Sarawak was not in deforested areas as alleged by Cargill and environmentalists. Most of the cultivated oil palms sit in cleared forests, peat swamps and native customary rights (NCR) land, he added.

“If our efforts in planting oil palm in these areas are thwarted by environmental issues, then eradication of rural poverty will take longer to achieve,” he said.

According to James, nearly 18,000 smallholders in Sarawak have taken up oil palm planting and earn RM3,300 net returns per hectare per year.

He did not give the figures for the huge plantation companies in Sarawak which have allegedly seized NCR land from their owners through means fair and foul.

“The environmentalists of the world want developing nations’ forests to suck all the carbon dioxide emitted by the developed countries so the latter continues to be rich, while others remain poor,” alleged James. “This is the case where the poor subsidises the rich.”

Cargill is not the first to stop buying Sarawak CPO.

Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd told James recently that they would not buy Sarawak CPO planted in cleared forests and peat swamp from next year. His response reportedly was that they could buy their CPO from “countries that grow oil palm in the desert”.

Sarawak already faces problems selling its timber in the West and Japan and had to turn to India and China instead as developed countries set strict standards on sustainability and human rights.