I refer to the article 'Safety laws to be put in place' which in the New Straits Times on Oct 30 wherein the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui stated that the biodiesel business is to be given only to 'Big Businesses'.

"We don't want people scrounging around ... collecting used cooking oil and mixing them with flammable gas in their backyards to come up with their own version of biodiesel. Safety laws will be put in place to prohibit home made biodiesel," he said. (Under the proposed Biofuel Bill, licencing is a major requirement in setting up biodiesel plants.)

"Makeshift mini refineries can be hazardous. We don't want accidents from such unsafe practices. We want biodiesel to be produced in safe regulated industrial zones," he said further.

I am utterly shocked at this kind of pronouncement from the minister of plantation industries and commodities. I would like to ask the right honourable minister - just whose interests are you looking after? The 'Big Boys', your ministry's, a combination of the 'Big Boys' and your ministry, or the common Malaysians at large?

What kind of policy is this that the biodiesel industry has to be a protected industry for a privileged few? Biodiesel production is no rocket science and anyone in this 21st century with a little human capital can do it safely and efficiently. It is not as hazardous and insulting as he makes it out to be. Really, just who is this minister to tar the common Malaysian in this manner?

Chin has also said that he hoped the authority to issue biodiesel licences will be given to his ministry when the Biofuel Bill is enacted. Well, I hoped it will not! I would even go further and ask just what is the role of the plantation industries and commodities ministry? Does it have a role and should it have a role?"

My opinion is that it does not. It should be closed down instead. Agricultural plantations are not industries. Agriculture is. Commodities refers chiefly to trading and in that sense marketing, and thereby encompasses distribution, storage, purchase and sales (if ever we need a strategic buffer stocks or reserves to be maintained). Therefore 'commodities' if there is a need for such a ministry should more logically be under the Ministry of (International?) Trade and Industries. Not Plantation Industries and Commodities.

Normally I would not advise ministers what they should do or not do, but in this instance, I think the minister has erred and erred greatly. He should have let the market decide who should be the players for bodiesel production in the country. His job is to provide a framework to ensure a fair and level-playing field for all able Malaysians. All can enter and exit. It is not for just a select few. It is not his job to protect or defend or bail out any businesses. Maintain the system, not the players.

Yes, I can hear some his economists saying 'No ... no ... we must ensure an efficient allocation of resources'. I totally disagree. Especially in the manner under the proposed Biofuel Bill. It certainly reminds me of the way the country was governed for 22 years under the Dr Mahathir Mohamad era. No cronyism please. Ultimately, the free market is most efficient (albeit with some qualifications). Let there not be anymore unjustified, protected, inefficient industries. It is not in the interest of Malaysia and Malaysians. Let the pie be opened to all.

To cap this, I ask the good Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and other cabinet ministers to re-consider seriously the draft Biofuel Bill in its present form. I ask firmly that the Youth Wings of Gerakan, Umno, MCA, and SUPP protest loudly, publicly, and unequivocally against this unjust and narrow interest Bill favouring a cartel to be licensed by the ministry only. The rationale given by the minister is unacceptable and misleading.