Bisnis.com JAKARTA — The government and the private sector are encouraged to press the EU parliament that always conducts negative campaign against Indonesian palm oil products that is detrimental towards 50 million oil palm farmers.
This was stated by the Chairperson of House Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation (BKSASP) of DPR, Nurhayati Assegaf in a press conference themed, “The Result of Group Visit as Bilateral Cooperation of DPR-European Union” in DPR building, Monday (23/4/2018).
According to Nurhayati, who has just recently led BKSAP delegations to meet with European Union parliament, the strong negative campaign against Indonesian palm oil products is inseparable from the game of trade politics.
The ban on the import of Indonesian palm oil for various reasons such as employment of underage children in oil palm plantation is clearly detrimental to Indonesia. At the same time, the step taken by the European Union benefits other palm oil producing countries including Malaysia and Vietnam.
Nurhayati admitted lobbying process by Malaysia and several other countries is stronger than the one conducted by Indonesia. This is due to the fact that the country is part of the British commonwealth countries.
On other parts, Nurhayati said that the European Union is inconsistent in supporting a country that is progressing in democracy. The European Union is supposed to be more supportive towards Indonesia, that has developed democracy better than the other ASEAN countries.
“I told them, ‘you support undemocratic countries more than Indonesia that has developed democracy,’” she said. Nurhayati considered that the European Union resolution over Indonesian palm oil products is a very discriminatory action and disrespects democracy.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Indonesian Agroindustry and Agribusiness Society (MAI) who is also a member of BKSAP, Fadel Muhammad said that the European Union’s negative campaign against Indonesian palm oil products is caused by the negative publication made by non-governmental organization in Indonesia itself.
According to the investigation conducted by MAI, the NGO that made the publication of negative issues received substantial funds from foreign parties.
For that, he has asked Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) to investigate the fund received from foreign parties into the Indonesian NGO. Fadel considered they have betrayed at least 50 million palm oil farmers in Indonesia.
Source : bisnis.com