National Palm Oil Entrepreneurs Endorse Acceptance of the Draft Law on Palm Oil Plantation

The Executive Director of Gapki M Fadhil Hasan said that the ratification of the Oil Palm Bill would be one of the solutions to deal with issues in the national oil palm industry.

Fadhil emphasized that currently the national oil palm industry has many issues because it does not have a strong legal umbrella.

"There is urgency for us to have an Oil Palm Act because we are faced with many issues that cannot be resolved if we do not have a solid legal umbrella," he said in a discussion on the Oil Palm Bill in Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta, Wednesday (14/12/2016).

Fadhil stated that one of the issues faced was the drop in oil palm price that caused slow economic growth in areas dependent on the palm oil industry, such as in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

"Malaysia has specifically regulated the oil palm industry because they consider the palm oil industry important," he said.

Gapki also supports the plan to establish an institution or agency that specifically regulates the oil palm industry because the current agency regulating the oil palm industry is not centralized and scattered everywhere, which is ineffective.

"It is like Malaysia, which has the Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB). This agency has several functions such as providing guidance, creating a conducive investment process, improving governance from upstream to downstream, supporting the certification process, carrying out promotions and diplomacy, and collecting and managing palm oil finances," he said.

The Vice Chairman of the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the House of Representatives (DPR) Firman Soebagyo said that the Oil Palm Bill is a bill that urgently needs to be enacted.

He ensured that the bill will be one of the solutions to deal with various issues faced by the oil palm industry.

"I will not back down one step in passing this bill. Currently the bill has entered the 2016 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), but there are revisions and it will enter the 2017 Prolegnas again. God willing, this bill can be ratified into law in 2017," he ended.