(Parliament, Thursday): Last night in Parliament, I have taken the Minister for Internal Trade and Consumer Affair Datuk Mohd. Shafie Bin Haji Apdal to task by asking him to resign as the Minister for Internal Trade and Consumer Affair if the sugar shortage problem were not resolved by his Ministry by November this year.

This is not the first time Mohd Shafie is talking about the sugar shortage problem in Parliament.  During the last Parliament session on 10^th of July, when winding up on the debate on the Control of Supply (Amendment) 2006 Bill, Mohd Shafie told House that everything was under control and that there was sufficient sugar in the market.

Obviously, all is not well.  The people still suffer from the severe sugar shortage problem in the country.

Last night, Mohd Shafie again gave all the excuses and reasons which he gave in the previous sitting in July and the measures that he proposed to tackle the situation are nothing new, save for the proposal that the Ministry may consider the opening up of the import of sugar into Malaysia and abolish the monopoly on sugar control by certain individuals.  It seems that the Minister is attributing the fault of sugar shortage on everyone except himself.

If monopoly is the cause of the problem, why is it taking the Ministry such a long time to abolish the monopoly system?  Other causes for the shortage, eg. sugars being smuggled to the neighbouring countries, stock-piling and shortage in production by factories had been mentioned by him more than 2 months ago, but there is still no visible improvement in the situation.

An ultimatum must be given to the Minister to resign if the sugar shortage problem were not solved by next month before Parliament re-sits in November.

The sugar shortage crisis has gone on in our country for more than 6 months and yet the Ministry seems to have no answer for it.  As the head of the Ministry, Mohd. Shafie must be held accountable for his Ministry’s failure.  Furthermore, this is not the first time that a supply shortage crisis happened in our country.

Last year, the severe diesel shortage went on for months until I have to move an emergency motion under Standing Order 18(1) of the Dewan Rakyat.  Thereafter, the problem went on for a few more weeks before supply of diesel in our country is back to normal.

Given the repeated failure of the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affair to ensure the smooth supply of essential items in the country, the elementary principle of accountability demands that the Minister in-charge must be held responsible.  If such thing happens in a more developed and democratic country, the Minister would have long resigned from his post already.

(21/09/2006)