Indonesia, Malaysia turn to biodiesel

Faced with soaring oil prices, Indonesia and Malaysia are turning to biodiesel, a fuel that cuts regular diesel with vegetable oil, to reduce emissions and costly subsidies. Indonesia last month introduced biodiesel at petrol stations in Jakarta, though it was only slightly cheaper than regular diesel [due to massive government subsidies]. The high cost of substitutes is just one of the obstacles governments around the world face in making the move to alternative energies and weening their populations off a heavy dependence on fossil fuels.

Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman said his ministry planned to build four biodiesel-processing plants in Indonesia that would together cost up to 33 million dollars, and to develop 500,000 hectares of plantations every year, with more than 1 billion dollars from the government. The Malaysian government is taking similar steps and pledged last year to implement a national biofuel policy which calls for the mandatory use of biodiesel made of 5% processed palm oil with 95% petroleum diesel for all diesel vehicles from the year 2007.

However, the push for palm oil biofuel is worrisome for some environmental groups which charge that new plantations will destroy rainforests and habitat for such threatened Indonesian wildlife as orangutans, Sumatran tigers and rhinoceroses - and also infringe on land used for local livelihoods. "It's like they're going to solve one problem by creating another," said Rudy Lumuru, executive director of Sawit Watch. "They say biofuel is to minimize air pollution, but when they cut the forests, they create a new problem."

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