PETALING JAYA, Jan 20 — A PKR lawmaker today urged Putrajaya to abolish approved permits (AP) on food items to remove monopolies and reduce prices for consumers.
Kapar MP Manivanan Gowin said more than 2,428 imported items require APs that are controlled by a small group of companies.
“The public do not realise that Barisan Nasional makes it a condition to have APs to import food items, which has caused prices to go up just like APs for cars that contributed to the high cost of cars in the country.
“With this permit, only selected individuals and companies can import food which creates a monopoly to control the local food prices,” he told reporters at the PKR headquarters here.
The party consumer bureau chairman said the best example of a monopoly via the AP system is that both the permit to import sugar and rice are controlled by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
“As long as there is the AP system to bring in these food items, food prices in Malaysia will not be able to follow market prices,” he said.
Manivanan said these AP holders could even raise prices using the plummeting of the ringgit as an excuse.
He also challenged Putrajaya to reveal the AP holders so that Malaysians can see for themselves the true identity of those who controls the food market in the country.
