Would Datuk Shafie Apdal resign as Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer affairs if his claim of adequate flour supply shortage is untrue and there are no roti canai in Indian restaurants next week?
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Press Statement
by Lim Guan Eng
__________________
(Petaling Jaya,
Tuesday):
Would Datuk Shafie Apdal
resign as Minister of
Domestic Trade and Consumer
Affairs if his claims of
adequate flour supply
shortage is untrue and there
are no roti canai in Indian
restaurants next week?
Malaysian consumers are sick
tired and angry that Malaysia
continues to face shortage of
basic commodities which are
not faced by our neighbouring
countries. First it is
cooking oil, now it is flour
– what right has the
government to claim good
governance if it can not
supply basic foodstuffs to
the people.
Malaysian Indian Restaurant
Owners' Association president
Datuk Ramalingam Pillai said
yesterday there would be no
roti canai in Indian
restaurants from next week as
the restaurants have run out
of flour and are finding it
hard to secure further supply
at reasonable prices.
Ramalingam said wholesalers
were charging between RM 5
and RM 15 (15-45%) more than
the price-controlled rate of
RM 33.60 for the 25kg bag of
flour and that the flour
shortage was more acute in
small towns.
This flour shortage has hit
consumers since the cooking
oil shortage was reported in
Kedah, Pahang, Melaka, Penang,
Kelantan and Klang Valley.
The cooking oil shortage has
caused losses to food
businesses that can not do
business without sufficient
cooking oil and
inconvenienced consumers with
loss of time and money
searching for cooking oil.
So severe was the shortage
that since last week
rationing of cooking oil was
imposed as panic-buying
triggered by rumours of price
hikes stripped supplies from
supermarket shelves.
Rationing is ridiculous for a
country like Malaysia which
is the largest producer and
exporter in the world with
14.4 million tonnes of palm
oil exported in 2006, just
over 50 per cent of the
global trade in oils and
fats.
Such failure by the
government to deliver basic
commodities is inexcusable
when the government had
already imposed a Cooking Oil
Subsidy Scheme (COSS) of RM
855 million from oil palm
planters to stabilize the
price and ensure the adequate
supply of cooking oil to
consumers. Why did the
government not direct
increased production earlier
and only the extra 70,000
tonnes of cooking oil now to
ease the severe shortage?
Clearly Shafie has shown
himself to be ineffective and
responsible for the cooking
oil shortage and if it is
true that there would be no
roti canai next week due to
shortage of flour, he might
as well honourably resign.
(08/01/2008)
* Lim Guan
Eng,
Secretary-General of DAP |