this guy said it…!!! please send memo to rais yatim to put a cork in it!!

this appeared in the malay mail, here.

Politics and trade behind palm oil ad ban

Submitted by pekwan on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

• Local
• Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) chief Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron

British public denied the right to make choices

Kharleez Zubin

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 08:02:00

THE recent attempt by Britain to sabotage one of Malaysia’s fastest-selling products implies that, behind the freedom of choice — the supposed cornerstone of the Free World has other agendas. “The British audience must be left to choose whether they want to consume or use our palm oil-based products and I think it goes against the very notion of freedom of choice,” said Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) chief Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron. He was commenting on a ban slapped by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) last month on MPOC’s advertising campaign in the UK media. In upholding four complaints made against the advertisement, by Friends of the Earth, the ASA said the advertisement must not appear again in its current form. The complaints were mainly about the claims of sustainability, working practices and the industry’s contribution to alleviating poverty among the rural poor of Malaysia. And following ASA’s ruling, all media in the UK have stopped accepting the Malaysian palm oil advertorial — which first appeared in The Economist in May. The advertorial (Palm Oil: The Green Answer) talks about the economic importance and environmental sustainability of Malaysian palm oil. It was meant to defend the industry, but the ultimate effect was quite different. “By censoring our message, this relatively small group of people is blocking the entire British public’s access to a diverse range of views and information about palm oil. “Consumers have a right to have information about the various products and services available to them and a right to determine for themselves which they want. Consequently, we are deeply concerned that the ASA is acting as an interested party in the public debate on palm oil rather than as a neutral and objective arbiter,” he told Malay Mail on the sidelines of a regional conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. However, Yusof Basiron said the ban did not mean MPOC could not get through to the British audience. “We have the internet and nobody controls cyberspace. So, we have a chance of presenting our side of the story and informing the British audience about the virtues of palm oil products.” Commenting on the attacks against the palm oil industry by the two NGOs, Yusof Basiron said they were motivated by politics and trade, rather than genuine concern for environmental conservation. This is not the first time that the ASA has ruled against an MPOC advertisement. In January last year, the authority upheld a complaint — also from the Friends of the Earth — against the council’s television commercial.

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so he said it. can we get an amen…?  holler!!!

Politics and trade behind p..

Tags: banana republic, green dam, palm oil, rais yatim, yusof basiron