05/10/2010 (The Star Online), Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia has slammed anti-palm oil NGOs and environmental groups for blaming the industry for the destruction of rainforests and orang utan habitats in the country.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok described their protests as “baseless” in the light of Malaysia’s pro-environment measures in palm oil production.

“Despite a well managed and caring industry, we are being bombarded with baseless allegations by these NGOs and environmentalists,” he told a press conference after opening the Third International Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar at the Royal Chulan Hotel here yesterday.

Dompok said some zoos abroad and anti-palm oil lobbyists put up so-called Don’t Palm Us Off Facts to campaign against palm oil-based products on unproven claims.

He was referring to Australia-based Zoo Victoria’s website protesting palm oil cultivation as unenvironmentally sound and purportedly receiving 130,000 signatures supporting it.

“They do all this while nonchalantly displaying orang utans in confined spaces and subjecting them to cold and non-tropical climates,” Dompok said.

He said zoos in non-tropical countries should release their captive orang utans back into the wilds of Malaysia or Indonesia.

“Use the money contributed by the public towards real conservation programmes instead of making feeble attempts at running negative campaigns that mislead the public,” he said.

Dompok said there were 100 major zoos worldwide that had orang utans in captivity.

He said one adult orang utan, named Onshine, became grossly overweight after 13 years of being kept as a pet.

“This orang utan was brought to the Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre in London to lose its current weight (100kg) and possibly find a mate at the centre.

“Onshine is not an isolated case,” he said.

Dompok said the Government had pledged RM20mil towards the Malaysian Palm Oil Wildlife Conservation Fund for wildlife conservation and biodiversity maintenance.

“More recently, we initiated a programme to set aside a major tract of rainforest in Sabah to establish a mega wildlife sanctuary,” he said.