Improve social protection, food security, MP tells PM

 

Klang MP Charles Santiago says the government could consider further cash transfers to address the food burden of low-income earners.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob should formulate a set of social protection measures to help the public deal with the rising cost of living, says Klang MP Charles Santiago.

Santiago also called for reforms in the production and management of the food sector to ensure the public will be able to manage rising food costs in the face of inflation.

“Congratulations for completing one year at the top job but much more needs to be done, urgently,” he said in a statement.

An economist by training, Santiago noted that the steep increase in prices impacts different groups of people differently.

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He said that lower income communities are hit harder as they spend about 25% of their monthly income on food, as opposed to higher income communities who spend about 12.6%.

Stating that those in the former category have to resort to cheap but unhealthy food supplies such as instant noodles, Santiago also pointed out how unhealthy food leads to malnutrition among children and puts them at increased risk of diabetes and other diseases.

“To help assist these families, the government could consider cash transfers such as Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (Bingkas), a Selangor government programme to address the food burden of low-income earners,” he said.

“Here, an amount of RM300 is transferred to single mothers with children below 18 years of age to ensure that poor families, especially children, have access to nutritious food.”

He said the government could also consider a targeted breakfast scheme to overcome stunted growth and malnourishment among schoolchildren.

Touching on the need to ensure domestic food security in light of the country’s dependence on foreign imports, Santiago said one way to address this would be through the use of wakaf land – private property endowed to the community for common use under Islamic laws – for agricultural production.

“While productivity through greater use of technology should be encouraged, it is important to eliminate middlemen and monopolies that control production and costs,” he said.

“In short, the government must make agriculture ‘sexy’ again, especially to the young.” - FMT