Letters

Palm oil diplomacy to counter West's narrative

LETTERS: Russia and Ukraine are huge exporters of sunflower seed oil. Many nations, especially in Europe, rely heavily on this oil for their daily commercial and personal use.

Therefore, with the ongoing conflict, prices of this oil have skyrocketed and supply continues to decrease.

Malaysia and other Asean nations are not affected by this sunflower seed crisis as we depend more, if not solely, on palm oil for our needs.

Malaysia and Indonesia are, after all, the leading producers of palm oil in the world.

The West have been critical of our palm oil industry as they claim that we are damaging our environment by chopping down trees to make way for plantations.

This is among the many things that the West poorly understands about Asean nations.

Deforestation is an issue across the world and, like many others, Malaysia has laws in place to ensure that a certain percentage of our country remains green.

It is not only the West who are concerned, Malaysians, too, want to ensure our beautiful tigers, orangutans, tapirs and a host of other wildlife and birds have a safe place to grow and breed.

A large majority of us are nature lovers and there is no way we would let anyone ravage our forests.

From what I have read, our palm oil industry uses modern technology, latest fertilisers and replanting techniques to ensure sustainability, and there is no need for more forest clearing.

With the abundance of palm oil we have here and the more than enough cooking oil supply, I must say it was a truly wonderful gesture from our government to offer help to those affected by the sunflower seed oil crisis.

Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin recently said her ministry was ready to assist those in need to cater for their commercial and personal needs.

"We are deeply concerned over the state of the United Kingdom and Europe following the current situation between Russia and Ukraine. And therefore, should the UK and other European nations need our assistance, we are ready to assist with supplying edible palm oil or cooking oil for their domestic and manufacturing needs."

This is truly a thoughtful and generous gesture from our government. Though it may seem small to some, I cannot imagine a household without cooking oil.

Hats off to the government and Zuraida for having thought of this meaningful gesture.

AUGUSTINE ABDULLAH PETERS

Kuala Lumpur


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times

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