KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 ― Pakatan Harapan (PH) Secretariat has today expressed concern on the issue of price hikes on food items, just few days shy of Hari Aidilfitri.
In a statement today, representatives from three of PH's component parties also called on the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to stick to the former government party's price control policy, which the trio said had included more items and was enforced for a longer period of time, compared to PN's.
“It appears that the PN government, in particular the minister and the deputy minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP), is slow to act and is unable to control the price hike well.
“One of the thing enforced by PH previously, but which was not continued by PN is not just the price control of more controlled items; 27 items under PH compared to only 11 under PN, but also the total number of days during which the policy was enforced; 30 days under PH compared to only 15 days under PN).
“This differences in the number of goods and enforcement period, affects the prices of essential items due to high demand, especially during the festive seasons such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri,” PKR's Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, DAP's Chong Chieng Jen and Parti Amanah Negara's Datuk Dr Hatta Ramli jointly said.
Saifuddin was the previous PH government’s minister for KPDNHEP, while Chong was his deputy.
They added that PN must use the then PH's government's success as a yardstick, when it comes to price control of essential items, and continue the good mechanism PH had put in place.
“At a time when many have lost their source of income as well as jobs, they are now burdened with huge expenditures for Hari Raya. What the people are mostly hopeful about is a caring government that proactively resolves the people's problems,” they added.
Earlier today, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that an additional 19 types of Aidilfitri essential goods will be listed under the Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme starting tomorrow until June 3,
He said under the scheme, the price-controlled items include vegetables such as tomatoes, red chillis, large onions and dried chillis, in addition to various fish such as mackerel and sardines.
Ismail Sabri said as of yesterday, the enforcement team from KPDNHEP had inspected over 25 types of itema at 968 business premises including retailers (747), wholesalers (191) and manufacturers (30).
