OCT 29 — The teh tarik kurang manis culture is set to shift to teh tarik tarak manis with the removal of sugar subsidy announced in Friday’s budget, causing an instant 34 sen per kg rise in the price of the commodity and hence the looming “price adjustments” of everything else.
It is unfortunate that only when it comes matters like this do some of us go out loudly to equate sugar with health—that too much sugar causes diabetes and now, too much sugar affects the libido. But the statistics do not seem to tally on these because while there are nearly four million Malaysians who are diabetics, the birth rate is zooming on at breakneck speed ahead.
On top of that, there’s a high incidence of rape and incest in a Malaysian state that is also bleeding from an alarming case of diabetes and obesity due to high sugar intake.
Whatever it is I am quite happy that a dear friend, Datuk D, who runs a chocolate factory, is not badly affected by the sugar price hike. For a while I thought he would, as the production capacity is huge.
“Industrial sugar is not subsidised, so the budget announcement has no effect on manufacturing costs,” he said.
Datuk D is one my classmates in a diabetes networking site we set up some time ago. In it we discuss our daily readings for blood sugar and blood pressure or any other common ailments and exchange notes over dosages and prescriptions.
I suppose that is what some people do when they reach a certain age. But I am proud to say we are indeed a closely knit group since schooldays and among those in the group are doctors who would give their valuable input.
It is an active support group. A typical morning posting would be something like this: “FBS 6.0, BP 119/76 just now. Yesterday evening I couldn’t resist the bubur kacang durian and topped the day with a wedding dinner.” (FBS is blood sugar level and BP is blood pressure). We would also exchange notes on our lifestyles and poke fun at each other because I guess at this age nothing much matters anymore.
But the health reason given to support the removal of sugar subsidy seemed to have irked Capt A who said he had been staying away from sugar for much of the last 30 years but is still left dealing with high sugar level in his blood. That reason is therefore flawed, he said.
Being diabetics, the rest in the group were equally zippy in their comments, especially on the lack of incetives for substitutes such as stevia (sweetener used by diabetics). Here is a sample of the comments:
- “I don’t think the people will take less sugar in their food and drinks but I am very sure that we have to pay more for them. Health education is more important and will gradually teach the people to take less sugar.”
- “A 34 sen/kg increase in price shouldn’t have much impact on teh tarik. Most won’t feel much impact. But the goverment’s move will send a strong message on diabetes and the RM200 million saved will go towards defraying healthcare costs. Just like higher taxes on ciggies, alcohol, etc.”
- “There should be a sugar substitute subsidy. In places controlled by the government, sugar substitutes like stevia should be mandatory, e.g school canteens, prisons and hospitals to start with. People will learn at a young age we can do without sugar.
“Use some of the RM200m or so saved to do a study on the rising costs of health care and how the government can improve public health by telling and convincing people to excersise, eat right and to grow simple plants that you can eat to give many benefits.
“Big pharma don’t want you to know this. They want to sell multivitamins etc. We have so many easy ways to grow beneficial plants. So there you have it. The impact of sugar in whatever form is so wide.”
The other aspect of the budget that drew my interest was the proposal to allocate RM3.4 billion for the next phase of the country’s high-speed broadband. The Internet speed, it is said, would be increased to 10 megabits per second.
That is great especially for people like me who deal with news and information flashed quickly every day.
But it was so ironic that on the very day this was announced, my email got hacked.
A weird message was sent to everyone purportedly from me using my email address saying I was stranded in a place called Cork, Ireland and that I needed money as I had been robbed at a bus station.
Cork. Even the name of the place is funny.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
