‘Petrol hike has little effect on price of goods’

Khairy Jamaluddin said there are other factors beyond the government's control that contribute to the hike in price of foodstuff.

SELAYANG: Despite grumbling among consumers over the expected rise in the cost of living, the recent fuel price hike has had little impact on the price of raw foodstuff — at least at the Kuala Lumpur Wet Market here, Khairy Jamaluddin has found.

Khairy made this conclusion after spending half an hour walking through the busy wet market this morning to gauge the price of goods on sale there, just two days after the Internet exploded over the kangkung (water spinach) debacle which saw netizens lash out at a prime minister who is apparently unsympathetic towards the rakyat’s financial concerns.

Many quarters have blamed Putrajaya’s fiscal measures for the hike in prices of goods and services beginning 2014, but Khairy said there were more factors to be taken into consideration that were beyond the government’s control.

“According to the sellers here, the rise and fall of prices is mostly related to supply. This is linked to the weather conditions that may cause fishermen to avoid the sea, or a decrease in supply from exporting countries such as Thailand,” the Youth and Sports minister told reporters today after his walkabout.

“It cannot be denied that the petrol hike has a little impact as it increases transportation costs, but the main issues are supply and demand.”

With a price sheet in hand and flanked by the media, policemen, and his entourage comprising Umno Youth members, Khairy had manouvered among the stalls to approach several vendors in the market, asking them how much their goods were selling for.

This, he said, was part of the government’s initiative to monitor increase in prices of goods to ensure the cost of living among Malaysians remained at a reasonable level.

And while some goods had seen an increase in price, many of the vendors  had pointed out to the Umno Youth chief during his walkabout that they could not risk drastically hiking their wares, as it would mean losing out to their competitors.

Consumers could also rest assured that the formation of Umno Youth’s Consumer Squad would ensure that their interests were protected, Khairy said.

“We will form a committee in every state to help the ministry of domestic trade, cooperatives and comsumerism to monitor the price of goods.

“We will act according to the Anti-Profiteering Act to curb unreasonable hikes in prices, the Price Control Act where several items will be enlisted under this in anticipation of Chinese New Year, and the Competition Act to ensure there is no monopoly,” said Khairy.

He said the squad would also distribute flyers to consumers revealing the recommended price of everyday goods prepared and updated every week by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry.

“Consumers can check the price list and make comparisons when doing their shopping. This is part of Umno Youth’s efforts to educate consumers. Many don’t know the real price of goods.”

Khairy added that the squad, which only began operating today, would work together with consumer associations to better protect consumers from sellers who may take advantage of the government-announced price increases to hike up their wares to exorbitant levels.

The Rembau MP also urged the government not to agree to price hikes unrelated to the subsidy rationalisation efforts, such as increase in school bus and toll fares.