12/12/2006 (NSTP)  - FOREIGN non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are carrying out a smear campaign against Malaysia’s palm oil. Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said they claimed that the nation had a bad record in forest management.

He said the NGOs claimed that poor forest management was the reason behind the extinction of endangered animals like the orang utan, Sumatran rhino and pygmy elephant.

"This is their tactic to gain sympathy from the public," he told Senator Lee Sing Chooi.

He said the NGOs claimed that oil palm plantations had contributed to the loss of forests in Malaysia and Indonesia.

"They are trying to create a situation where no one would use palm oil. We are doing everything to counter this smear campaign."

He told Senator Gooi Hoe Hin that this was also part of a conspiracy to prevent the export of Malaysian palm oil to European countries.

Chin said the NGOs had also claimed that palm oil was bad for health but this had been discredited.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Malaysian Palm Oil Council had taken various measures to counter such allegations.

They included an aggressive advertising campaign in Europe, the United States, China and India, lobbying the authorities, stakeholders and those with interests in the marketing centres of London and Brussels, and organising seminars and dialogues involving dieticians and environmentalists.