25/06/2008 (Bernama), Kuala Lumpur - Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government was focusing on two possibilities in expanding Felda's commercial activities as a major producer of palm oil.

He said the two possibilities were to raise productivity and to set up oil palm estates overseas.

"So far, we have obtained land in Papua, Kalimantan, Aceh and Brazil. To date, no other states (had agreed to give land to open up new oil palm estates)," he said here Wednesday.

He said this to reporters after witnessing a subsidiary of Felda Berhad, Felda Prodata Systems Sdn Bhd receiving the ISO/IEC 27001 : 2005 acreditation for information security management system (ISMS) from Sirim QAS International Sdn Bhd.

Najib was asked to comment on the decision by the government not to allow the clearing of jungle to open up new oil palm plantation to avoid accusation by the West which considered the opening up of new oil palm estates as destroying the jungle areas and their ecosystem.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was yesterday quoted as saying that the existing oil palm estates were capable of meeting the current demand without opening new plantations.

Currently, there are about 4.3 million hectares of oil palm estates in Malaysia.

Prodata, the subsidiary company responsible for information technology in the parent company, Felda Berhad, will ensure that the information can only be accessed by authorised users.

He said Prodata was also responsible for protecting the accuracy of the information as well as the methods of processing.

"The certification received from Sirim showed that Prodata had carried out and controlled information security at an adequately high standard," Najib said.

To date, Prodata is one of the 17 organisations in Malaysia that had obtained certification from Sirim, which reflected the confidence of customers, employees, business partners and shareholders.

Najib said the certification also gave recognition in terms of independent assessment on Prodata's efforts to achieve standards in line with the best practice agreed by the community comprising experts in ISMS throughout the world.

Also present at the ceremony were Felda Group Chairman Tan Sri Dr Yusof Noor, Prodata chief executive Mohd Taher Aziz, and Sirim Berhad chairman Datuk Zulkifly Rafique.