Except in Sabah, OSA fears leave gap in RSPO’s transparency drive

Concerns about running afoul with the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) have led to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to leave plantations and mills in Malaysia out of a map that is meant to show where RSPO members are located.

RSPO chief executive officer Darrel Webber had told reporters at a virtual press conference yesterday that the NGO started asking its growers to release maps showing their boundaries in 2013, and subsequently published it on its GeoRSPO webpage beginning in 2017.

He said the move is meant to improve transparency by allowing anyone in the world to check where forest fires are occurring in relation to RSPO members’ plantations and facilitate a more objective conversation on the topic after the 2013 fires resulted in “very frustrating conversations” in the Asean region.

The map shows the location of RSPO members’ plantations across the world, he said, except for Malaysia due to “legal constraints”.

When asked, RSPO spokesperson Dan Strechay said this was due to Malaysian growers’ concerns that they may run afoul with the OSA by releasing their maps.

An examination of the website found that RSPO-certified plantations and mills in Sabah are the only RSPO members in Malaysia that are shown on the map.

Sabah was the exception because the state government had allowed the maps to be made public, he said.

In an e-mail to Malaysiakini last night, Strechay said the Malaysian palm oil industry association had asked the government for its views regarding the legality of publishing the maps and was led to believe that it would violate Malaysian laws.

The RSPO then conducted its own legal review but found it to be inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the Survey and Mapping Department supposedly told RSPO in response to their queries that publishing the boundary maps provided by its members might contravene the OSA.

“We were then told to seek permission from the Malaysian cabinet (of the previous government), but before we could do so, there was a change in government.

“We next sought out clarification on the matter by writing to the Home Ministry  but have yet to obtain clarity on the legality issue,” he said.

Previously, many activists have criticised the OSA as being too restrictive and that it could be abused to facilitate “cover-ups”.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said that a Freedom of Information Act would be drawn up to replace the OSA. Revising the OSA is also one of Pakatan Harapan’s election promises.

Meanwhile, Strechay highlighted that Malaysian RSPO members with landbanks outside Malaysia have nonetheless voluntarily provided maps of those areas for publication.

“We wish also to congratulate our producer members across the globe for taking this bold step towards transparency. It is unique in the world of agricultural commodities,” he said.

Malaysiakini has contacted the Home Ministry, the Primary Industries Ministry and the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry for their responses yesterday. 

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said she would be issuing a statement, while Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeoh Bee Yin's office said the issue was not under her purview. The Home Ministry has yet to respond. - Mkini