Comment: CPO boycott unfair: SBY

Feb. 15, Online

Calls for a boycott of Indonesian crude palm-oil (CPO), which have been continuously voiced by NGOs for years, are unfair particularly concerning the open market mechanism implemented globally these days, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday.

“It is inappropriate to prevent a country from establishing its own palm-oil businesses that have significant economic value. The business can help raise welfare in the country which still has poverty problems,” the President said in his speech before 128 foreign envoys assigned to Indonesia in a meeting held at the Foreign Ministry office on Wednesday.

Your comments:

What is unfair is breaking your promise to punish the guys who ordered the assassination of Munir.

What is unfair is leaving the country’s environment in a worse condition than when you came to power in 2004. What is unfair is being too cowardly to stop religious extremism.

Sadly, there’s no one better to replace SBY. It’s not fair.

Kenneth Yeung
Jakarta

While attending the Bali Climate Change Conference December 2010, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said to great public fanfare “To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.” Fifteen months on, why has he done neither?

Sean Whyte
England