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WORLD SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL CONFERENCE
The CEO Roundtable Dialogue Session from left Mr Jan Kees Vis, President of RSPO, Dato Lee Yeow
Chor, Executive Director of IOI Group, Dato Carl Bek-Nielsen, Vice Chairman/Executive Director of United
Plantations Bhd, Dato Dr. Michael Yeoh, CEO of ASLI, Dato Seri Lee Oi Hian, CEO KL Kepong Bhd, Mr
Jeremy Goon, Head of CSR of Wilmar International Limited Singapore and Dato Yeo How, President of
Asian Agri of Indonesia.
Dato Dr. Michael Yeoh, CEO of ASLI, Ms Jean Wong, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of
ASLI, Ms Putri Najib, Solicitor and daughter of Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak and the Hon. Datuk Peter Chin,
Minister of Plantation Industries & Commodities Malaysia at the event.
Lively discussion between Dr Rosediana Suharto, Executive Director of Indonesian Palm Oil Board Dato
Seri Lee Oi Hian and Dato Dr. Michael Yeoh.
The Minister of Plantation Industry and Commoditics Datuk Peter Chin arriving at the World Conference
on Sustainable Palm Oil.
ha of lands are forest and only 6.3 million ha which is about 5 percent are
planted with oil palm, which is arguably a very small area as compared to
what other countries have done to their natural forests. He also added that
the issue of forest has been addressed at the EU proposed Directive on
Renewable Energy which the Indonesian government appreciates as an
effort to reduce green house gas emissions by use of renewable resources
to include supplies from outside Europe. However as a concern he also
added that many points within the regulations and directive includes
calculations on land change should involve more parties with expertise as
to provide scientific proof and transparent data, to avoid dispute at a later
stage. He concluded that Indonesia are committed to supply palm oil to the
world not only for food but also for any other uses and he urged that we
should work together to balance its uses for food or energy.
The Hon. Mr. Bill Cash British MP in his remarks also stated that there
are undoubted controversies in respect of biodiversity and the natural
environment in all countries, including Malaysia, but no one could argue
that the Malaysian industry and Government agencies have not been
prepared to put out arguments and analysis for public debate. He added
that there may well be room for continuing improvement and law-making
and compliance, but there can be no doubt that, despite criticism and
continuing debate, there will continue to be a vigorous dialogue encouraged
by the industry and government in the search for a proper and sustainable
policy in the interests of the mutual necessity of a prosperous economy
and a balanced environment.
With the future optimistic picture for palm oil, continuous efforts were untaken
to promote the health and nutritional benefits of palm oil worldwide and to
curb these negative campaigns. In line with the campaign for sustainability
Malaysia especially has continued to engage environmentalists and
various stakeholders to assure them that their practices are sustainable
and in ensuring that the oil palm industry grows in harmony with nature,
several formulated initiatives, policies and practices to balance between
“development need” and the need to “preserve the environment” have
been carried out.
Among the distinguished role-players who spoke at the conference were
Dato’ Sabri Ahmad, Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Board; Dato’ Seri Lee
Oi Hian, Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Council; H.E. Datuk Abd. Aziz
Mohammed, High Commissioner of Malaysia to United Kingdom; Dr Ralph
Timms, Consultant of Oils & Fats; Gavin Neath, Senior Vice President
of Unilever PLC UK; Derom Bangun, Executive Chairman of Indonesian
Palm Oil Association; Dr Antonio Trius, Chief Executive Officer of Cognis
GmbH; Datuk Leslie Davidson, Former Chairman of Unilever Plantations
International; M R Chandran, Advisor to Executive Board of the RSPO;
Cyril Pinso, Chief Executive Officer of Borneo Conservation Trust; Datuk
Fong Joo Chung, Former Attorney General of the State Government of
Sarawak; Dato’ Carl Bek-Nielsen, Vice Chairman/Executive Director
of United Plantations Berhad; Jeremy Goon, Head of CSR of Wilmar
International Limited Singapore; Dato’ Yeo How, President of Asian Agri of
Indonesia and Jan Kees Vis, President of RSPO.
Mr Max Say of ASLI and the Hon. Mr Bill Cash MP
ASLI Palm Oil Conference team in London.