New Straits Times 25 Sep 15;
JAKARTA: The Association of Plantation Investors of Malaysia in Indonesia (APIMI) today confirmed that none of the Malaysian plantation companies operating in Indonesia were involved in open burning activities.
APIMI’s chief representative Nor Hazlan Abdul Mutalib said, to the contrary, all Malaysian plantation companies practiced zero burning in field clearing work.
He said the practice of burning forests and cultivated areas for any purpose was an offence in Indonesia and all members of APIMI complied with the laws on operating plantations at all times.
“Most of the Malaysian plantation companies are also members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organisation which issues certification on the export of palm oil to Europe, and one of the conditions for obtaining RSPO certification is no open burning practices,” he told Bernama here today.
He said the RSPO was very firm on environmental issues and would revoke a certificate of recognition from any member who was found guilty of burning activities at oil palm estates.
Nor Hazlan said if there were cases of open burning in plantations owned by Malaysians, they were actually carried out by the local people who lived in the area.
Nor Hazlan said, perhaps many people were not aware that one of the conditions of investing in oil palm plantations in Indonesia was that the investment company was obliged to set aside as 20 per cent of the platation area for the locals.
He said those living as squatters there could not be transferred by the government, and they in turn conducted their own farming activities as well as open burning.
"If seen from satellite data, it certainly looks like the fires are in plantation areas owned by Malaysian investors, but it is not the oil palm plantations, it is the area of plantations managed by the local people," he said.
He said the matter had to be explained to the authorities every year, since the fires occurred yearly, especially during the dry season. -BERNAMA
