THE bright Thursday afternoon last week didn’t make Amirulah, 46, feel comfortable. On the contrary, the face of the resident of Mundungdarat village in Jambi province, showed anxiety when looking at the tall piles of oil palm bunches by the side of his house built on stilts. The fresh oil palms were harvested from the 5-hectare plantation that he owns.

It had been three days and they had not been sold because no traders would buy them. Even i