NEW YORK: The proposal by European countries to ban the import of palm oil is a classic example of denial of free trade, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
“Unable to sustain the competitiveness of their own edible oils, a campaign is mounted to ban palm oil, he said in his address at the 74th UN General Assembly here on Friday.
Dr Mahathir said these campaigns claim that palm oil is poisonous to health, that its cultivation destroys the habitat of long-nosed monkeys, reduces carbon dioxide absorption and so on. Products of Europe, meanwhile, are labelled palm oil free.
“Malaysia produces palm oil. Many poor countries produce palm oil. Malaysia will not clear more forests for palm plantations,” he said, adding that Malaysia has also exceeded its Rio Earth Summit pledge with forest cover currently at 55.3 percent.
“Palm oil is still a big contributor to our economy. There is no evidence that it is poisonous. We appeal to the good sense of the rich not to impoverish us, not to deprive hundreds of thousands of our workers from earning a living. You will be doing a good deed by consuming palm oil,” the prime minister added.
Despite all the talk about free trade, new regulations continue to be introduced that are detrimental to the development of poor countries, he pointed out.
“This is because proposals on rules and regulations are made by the rich, often secretly. The poor are practically forced to accept them. One example is the Trans Pacific partnership (TPP). It was cooked up in Washington with inputs from their big businesses.
“In the agreement, Governments of small countries could be forced to compensate the big foreign companies with huge sums of money, should their decision affect the profitability of the big companies, including future profit,” Dr Mahathir said.
Fortunately, he said, after the US pulled out of the TPP the agreement has become more palatable even though conditions for trade are still laid down.
“We are told that we must remove duties on imports, or reduce it so that foreign products can knock out our infant industries. We are reduced to exporting only raw material. How do we industrialise and create jobs for our people?”