Shahidan moots 'Lembu' to oversee bamboo crop, offered chairperson post

The Dewan Rakyat sitting took a comical twist when opposition lawmakers trained their guns on Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok's suggestion to plant bamboo as an alternative to oil palm.

The MPs quizzed her deputy Shamsul Iskandar if the government was serious about this.

Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) quipped that a board be formed to oversee the bamboo plantation and suggested that it be called Lembaga Buluh Negara (National Bamboo Board).

He added that the acronym would be "Lembu", which means cow in Bahasa Malaysia.

Responding to this, Shamsul had the House in stitches when he replied: "I agree. The ministry can propose that you are appointed as the first chairperson of Lembu.”

On a serious note, the deputy minister said the government viewed bamboo as a commodity with potential.

"In 2018, the market value for bamboo hit US$68.8 billion, dominated by China, India dan Taiwan. Meanwhile, the export value of bamboo-based products in Malaysia was only RM102,827," he added.

Shamsul also highlighted the bumiputera companies which were involved in the industry, turning bamboo into furniture and charcoal.

However, Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) expressed concern if there would be a market for Malaysian bamboo due to the dominant position of China and India.

"It is also true that crops can be rotated but doing it on a large scale, would it be pragmatic? We need to think carefully before we provide guidance (to planters) or they could become trapped without a market," he cautioned.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Ismail Sabri (BN-Bera) questioned how planters would survive in the interim if they fell their oil palms or rubber trees in favour of bamboos.

"My concern is for the smallholders who only manage between one to 10 acres of land," he said.

However, Shamsul said the government was only looking at bamboo as another potential industry to develop and was not proposing the mass replacement of oil palm and rubber trees.

"We see it as a commodity with potential but that does not mean we are going to chop down oil palm trees," he added.

Shamsul said any crop that can generate revenue should be viewed in a positive manner.

"This is not new and there are already companies engaged in this but they did not receive attention from the previous government," he added. - Mkini