KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok today clarified that her earlier suggestion to cultivate bamboo was to counter the negative perception in the West towards Malaysia’s mass plantation of oil palms and its products.

She said bamboo was only one of several crops she had suggested as alternatives and should not be taken to mean replacing oil palm as a commodity entirely as may be mistaken from the headline in the weekend edition of Utusan Malaysia on the matter published today.

"Bamboo, pineapple and coconut as I mentioned yesterday are alternatives suggestions to smallholders who have all this while relied solely on oil palm as the source of their supplementary income,” she said in a statement in response to the Malay paper’s report headlined "Lupakan kelapa sawit, tanam buluh” ("Forget oil palm, plant bamboo”).

Kok said that while the content of the report was acceptable, its headline was not.

She further said she was referring to certain areas in Pahang where bamboo was thriving.

"Any other selection of plants will depend on the suitability of the area.

"There are areas which are more suitable to plant coconut trees, while some are more apt for pineapple or durian trees.

"With this explanation, I hope the confusion will be quashed,” she said.

She also said her ministry had been directed by the prime minister to diversify Malaysia’s commodity crops so that farmers will not be too reliant on one type for their income.

"I explained these were done by the government as a measure to combat the anti-palm oil sentiments in Europe which is now affecting the export of palm oil to the global market, in particular European countries,” she added.