Europe should look at itself first, Kok says after controversial palm oil ad
Free Malaysia Today (22/111/2018) - KUALA LUMPUR: Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok today hit out at a recent advertisement against palm oil by a British supermarket chain, saying Malaysia is still doing more than Europe in terms of conserving the environment.
She told reporters here that the advertisement was “a lame excuse” to boycott palm oil, which is one of Malaysia’s largest trade commodities.
She added that Malaysia had never launched any such campaign against European agricultural products.
“Look at our supermarkets. We have all kinds of oil from the EU as well as their other products. Have we ever launched a campaign to boycott their oil?”
Kok also urged European countries to appreciate Malaysia’s efforts to conserve its forests, including through tree-replanting programmes.
“They should look at themselves first,” she said. “I haven’t heard anything about this in Europe. How many trees have they replanted? They cleared all their land.”
The advertisement, launched as part of the Iceland Supermarket chain’s Christmas shopping campaign, shows a cartoon orang utan taking shelter in a child’s bedroom from loggers who are destroying its jungle habitat in Borneo.
It aims to raise awareness on the environmental impacts of palm oil.
It has since been banned by Clearcast, the UK’s body for approving advertising material for broadcast.
Kok acknowledged that many developed areas used to be forest land, giving the example of Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur which she said was cleared for development.
However, she added that such activities were unavoidable if a country were to develop.
She also said Malaysia still maintained more than 50% of its forests.
Kok, who is Seputeh MP, previously said Putrajaya would not stand by or be cowed while such advertisements were allowed to influence the minds of people in markets crucial to Malaysia.
She also said it was shameful to resort to such “cheap” tactics, adding that she was disappointed by the company’s behaviour.
On a separate matter today, she dismissed concerns by economists over bearish crude oil prices, saying she was not worried about this affecting other commodities.
“The prices will go up. It’s just like our ringgit,” she said. “The ringgit is low right now, but that will go up too.”