Anti-palm oil lobby threatening livelihood of 650,000 smallholders

Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong holding an oil palm fruit bunch while having a discussion with smallholders.

Between Oct 13 and Oct 21, 2017, a bi-partisan parliamentary committee comprising six MPs – led by Malaysian Palm Oil Board Chairman and Jasin MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah with Datuk Liang Teck Meng, Datuk Marcus Mojigoh, Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin and Dr Azman Ismail – spent nine days in Brussels, Belgium engaging with Members of European Parliament (MEPs) on Malaysia’s agriculture, forestry and environment policies.

The delegation had hoped that the engagements could persuade the European Parliament to reconsider its April 4 resolution to in­troduce a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the European Union (EU) market and phase out the use of palm biodiesel by 2020.