Minister of Communications and Multimedia Annuar Musa has once again failed to list out his successes in checking soaring food prices and rising costs since he took over as Chairman of the Special Cabinet Task Force on Jihad against Inflation in June. Unlike Annuar Musa, I would not indulge in personal attacks but list out facts and figures.
Can Annuar Musa explain why despite his efforts, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index(CPI) rose from 3.4% in June to 4.4% in July or that food inflation rose by 6.1% in June to 6.9% in July? Bank Negara recently raised the Overnight Policy Rate(OPR) from 2.25% to 2.5% principally to stem inflation and rising costs. Clearly, inflation has become more serious, directly contradicting the claims made by both the Prime Minister and Annuar Musa that the anti-inflation special cabinet Committee has succeeded in controlling rising prices.
Will Bank Negara have raised the OPR if inflation was under control? Unable to respond to the reality that the anti-inflation special Cabinet Committee has failed, was “ineffective, incompetent and irrelevant” and should be abolished or Annuar be replaced as Chairman by the Prime Minister, Annuar has tried to distract attention by stating that he has no power to interfere in determining the OPR.
At no time did I call for Annuar to interfere not to raise the OPR as this is within Bank Negara’s purview. Annuar is completely confused between cause and effect. Annuar’s failure to stem rising food prices is the cause for inflation and the effect is that Bank Negara raises OPR to rein in inflation whilst disregarding the financial hardship imposed on borrowers and businesses.
The effectiveness of the task force headed by Annuar will not be judged by me but by the results which show rising CPI and food inflation in July. Does Annuar dare to go to the ground to the coffee shops and markets to challenge the prevailing despair faced by business operators and ordinary people at rising prices?
We can read in the news reports of complaints by Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association (Primas) vice-president C. Krishnan of high operating costs increasing by 30% due to soaring prices of utilities, raw materials, logistics and salaries. Primas claims 30% of restaurants have closed down as they were no longer able to sustain their business.
Annuar Musa will continue to be in denial of his failure to control rising prices to save his job and enjoy his Ministerial perks. But he is doing a great disservice to Malaysians by adopting an ostrich in the sand approach, when he should be advising the Prime Minister to take charge of the anti-inflation task force. The Prime Minister should spend less time on calling early elections but roll up his sleeves to fight inflation on behalf of Malaysians.