The Prime Minister (PM) is focused on Bahasa Malaysia (“BM”). The use of it at every opportunity from august halls in the government or private sector to the wet markets. Zaid Ibrahim rebuked (FMT, 30 Nov) the PM. He suggested the PM focus on real issues and not something that has been trumpeted for 64 years. Yes, some Bangladeshis speak better BM than students from vernacular schools. Why? Their first or second wives are local Malay women.
Unless your environment is largely Malay, this language stuff will go on for another 64 years! I served in Bank Bumiputera for 20 years. My BM improved by leaps and bounds! Perhaps more leaps than bounds! The Malay colleagues of mine will speak to me in English but I will reply in BM. Flabbergasted but happy that I am fairly “fasih dalam BM”.
The real issue now is rising prices! Inflation officially is only about 3% according to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). But is that real? It is from the Government’s point of view. But that’s because of the components and weightage in the index. From sugar to meat, from post office to national carmaker (Proton), from power (Malakoff) to gas (Gas Malaysia) or engineering(MMC), everything is monopolized by one man, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. Before “Sugar King” Robert Kuok was forced to sell his sugar business in 2009, the price of sugar was kept low and stable. When Syed Mokhtar Albukhary took over the sugar business, prices rose consistently.
Naturally, when wholesale sugar price increases, the food prices such as canned drinks, bread, biscuits and soya sauce also increase accordingly. When the world price for sugar was only RM1.40 per kilogram, the retail price in Malaysia was set at RM2.90 per kg. And that’s monopoly power.
Not only Albukhary controls the sugar business, he also monopolizes the rice in the country. His company Tradewinds acquired Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas), the country’s sole rice importer. Gross profit per month is reportedly RM8.7 million, which translates into RM104.4 million annually just for arranging the import of rice.
On November 25, local bread producer Gardenia Bakeries announced that it will raise prices for most of its products, ranging from 10 sen to 45 sen – effective December 1. Of course, Gardenia is owned by none other than Albukhary. A loaf of Gardenia Original Classic 400g white bread will cost RM2.80 compared to the old price of RM2.50. The Gardenia Original
Classic Jumbo 600g will cost RM4 instead of RM3.55, while a 400g loaf of Gardenia Bran & WheatGerm which is currently priced at RM2.50 will be increased to RM2.90. The local favourites such as Twiggies will jump from RM1.49 to RM1.80.
As usual, Gardenia claims that the price increase is due to the hike in the cost of raw materials (flour, sugar, milk, whole wheat, cocoa powder and packaging) and freight charges. Interestingly, Massimo bread owned by billionaire Robert Kuok appears to be immune to cost of raw materials as it has not announced any price hike.
This is not the first time Gardenia increased its prices. About a year ago (November 2020), it also announced new prices for several of its flavoured breads. The price had been raised between 5 and 20 sen effective December 2020. In Nov 2018, Gardenia also raised the prices of several of its best-known products, even though it had increased the prices of 18 of its products a year earlier in 2017.
Although chicken prices have spiked to RM10.70 from RM8 per kg within a week, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said his ministry had no plans to enforce price control for the item. He claimed no cartel activities have been detected. Finance minister Tengku Zafrul said his Finance Ministry will be studying the method to stabilise the rising price of chicken.
That was in September 2021. Two months later (November), hypermarket boss Ameer Ali Mydin of the Mydin chain raised the alarm. Chicken prices have remained stubbornly high. Worse, the shortage saw only 60% of its usual supply being met. Again, labour shortage was blamed, as well as heavy rain and escalating cost of imported chicken feed.
As early as April this year, chicken was already sold at RM8.80 per kilogram at the Selayang wet market. In fact, the price of chicken had increased 6 times in the same month. It means while the government – both Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri administrations – knew about the problem since early this year, the government has done little to solve the issues.
The price of vegetables, including tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers, chillies, cabbages, beans, sweet peppers and all types of salad leaves produced in Cameron Highlands have risen between 30% to 40% as early as June this year.
Yet, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs blames the reopening of all trade sectors since October as the culprit. Is the government trying to say that the people did not eat anything during the Covid lockdown?
The former PM Najib hasn’t pulled his previous stunt this time. He advised people in 2014 to shop wisely instead of complaining about price hikes. And he showed off a chicken he bought for just RM1. In defending his administration, Najib had also condemned people for ignoring vegetables that have become cheaper, such as “kangkung” (water spinach).
In truth, everything is being controlled in Malaysia through AP (approved permit), import and export permits, licenses, monopoly and cartels. The system has been designed in such a way to enrich the elites. We need a radical change in Government mindset to listen to the people rather than deflect issues with language, race or religion.
References:
Food prices skyrocket – The return of monopoly & cartel run by rich UMNO Malay Elites to profit from the people, 28 Nov 2021, http://www.financetwitter.com
A lecture on language isn’t what Malaysia needs, PM told, Robin Augustin, FreeMalaysiaToday, November 30, 2021
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