It all started with Nasi Lemak Najib

What can our Masterchef Ahmad Maslan say about all the price hikes on basic food items identified as GST-free?

COMMENT

I was having a good laugh yesterday afternoon when a friend of mine forwarded me a picture of ‘Nasi Lemak’ and ‘Nasi Lemak Najib’ – the latter without eggs.

As it was almost evening and having skipped lunch, I decided to drive to Mid Valley Megamall to have my favourite Claypot Noodles at the food court.

I ordered my chicken and mushroom noodles and started chuckling again at the thought of ‘Nasi Lemak Najib’ when the lady in charge asked if I wanted to add an egg to my dish.

I almost started cackling in her face but thank goodness I managed to tahan my laughter and said, “Yes, please.”

Proceeding to the cashier to make my payment, I was quite shocked to find the price of that one additional egg to be RM1.05.

“RM1.05 untuk sebiji telur? Mahalnya!” (RM1.05 for an egg? That’s expensive!)

“Biasa la cik, GST.” (With GST, that’s common)

“Telur mana kena GST?” (There should be no GST on eggs)

“Sini semua kedai pun sama jugak. Semua jual telur sebiji RM1.05.” (All places here charge RM1.05 for an egg)

Feeling unhappy, I uploaded a picture of the receipt on my Facebook page and ranted while I dug into my noodles.

Within minutes, friends from all over Malaysia responded with messages.

My cheeky son was the first to send me a message claiming I was making a mountain out of a molehill. According to him, his school canteen was charging students RM1 for an egg at least four years ago.

A friend, Priya Sharma said she was recently charged RM2 for a boiled egg at a mamak restaurant located opposite CIMB in Bangsar.

My brothers then sent me a few messages via WhatsApp saying RM1.05 was cheap compared to the price they normally paid. My younger brother in Penang pays RM1.20 for an egg in Nasi Kandar restaurants while my elder brother said RM1.50 – RM1.80 was usually the price around KL.

I checked my grocery receipts to find a pack of 10 eggs priced at RM4.50 although some of my friends living in other parts of the country claim to have paid up to RM6.80 for an ordinary set of 10 eggs of similar grade.

Why the price inconsistency?

A quick check on www.gst.com clearly showed that basic foodstuff like rice, sugar, flour, cooking oil, vegetable, fish, meat and eggs are not subject to GST.

Why then does a raw egg costing RM0.45 be sold at RM2 as a cooked item?

Technically, if other ingredients are added up in the process of preparing the egg – it makes sense lah. But can the price of a hardboiled egg and a telur mata kerbau be hiked up that much?

What irritates me the most is that despite all this nonsense going on, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan had the nerve to post pictures of him cooking on his official Twitter account, with the caption “My own recipe: Vegetables, eggs, chilies, rice, salt, meat, shallots, chicken and cooking gas. No GST!”

Eskusmi Ahmad Maslan, perhaps you should take off your apron and start explaining why items not subjected to GST are being priced ridiculously.

And while we are at it, maybe you can also justify why the price of cooking gas which is also not subject to GST went up from RM26.50 to RM30?

That’s not all. The price of almost everything in Malaysia has been hiked up. Clearly almost everyone is irritated with these unjustified price increases.

A follower on my ‘The Ordinary Malaysian’ Facebook page, Vikenes Rasu mentioned a plate of bendi masala in his usual joint now costs RM17 while one simple capati at Brickfields costs RM3.

Even at roadside stalls, a plate of rice + chicken + vegetables + iced lemon tea can cost almost RM10 if not more, claims another follower.

These crazy price hikes are not only confined to KL and Penang as Lawrence from Johor Bahru claims a three-inch ikan pari costs RM8.50 at Tesco Tebrau, JB.

And just last week my dad complained about chicken tandoori at a famous nasi kandar place in SS2 costing him RM9.50 while naan bread was RM5.00.

Hello, Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi Dan Kepenggunaan – anybody home?

I bet if a dialogue session is opened up for the public to start complaining about price hikes for products claimed not subjected to GST, it will be flooded with questions, complaints and criticism.

As an ordinary citizen, I am now confused – what do I do about all these price hikes? Do I pretend the authorities have no knowledge about what’s happening and go ahead to make formal complaints at http://e-aduan.kpdnkk.gov.my/eaduan/ or should I proceed to our very own GST Masterchef at https://www.facebook.com/ahmadmaslan ?

On second thought, perhaps I should seriously consider having Nasi Lemak Najib, Roti Canai Najib and Claypot Noodle Najib more often even if the names of those dishes seem quite unappetising.

I dunno lah wattodo. But if you have an idea, please drop me a line. I would most appreciate it.