Firman Subagyo, a member of Commission IV of the House of Representatives, said that anti-palm oil NGOs have an interest to ruin the image of palm oil products and disrupt the Indonesian economy. While on a business trip in Russia, he was surprised to hear Indonesian students who live there said that palm oil is the cause of environmental damage.
“I had a discussion with students. Many were asking about palm oil without knowing the real situation in Indonesia. There are students from Kalimantan who do not even know that their area has palm oil,” said Firman in a Discussion of Sovereign Indonesian Palm Oil Forum held by SAWIT INDONESIA Magazine with a theme “Dissecting Hidden Interests behind the EU Palm Oil Resolution,” on May 9th, 2017 in Jakarta.
Therefore, all parties are required to provide accurate data and information on palm oil governance including to Presidents Joko Widodo through public consultation forum. The government is also asked to act decisively by dissolving NGOs that disturb the national economy interest, especially making millions of farmers and communities lost their income.