State exco man defends call to ban foreigners from buying local rice

  

Melaka executive councillor Dr Akmal Saleh had urged the government to restrict the purchase of locally produced rice to Malaysians since it was subsidised by the government.

PETALING JAYA: A Melaka executive councillor has defended his proposal to bar foreigners from buying local rice to solve the current shortage.

Melaka rural development, agriculture and food security committee chairman Dr Akmal Saleh said he did not intend to be discriminatory towards anyone but maintained that the needs of locals must be prioritised.

While acknowledging that migrant workers are not wealthy, he said they had far less commitments compared to Malaysians.

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“Many of them live together in rented lodgings. They have their meals together in huge groups. There is no need (for them to) pay for housing or car loans, or school expenses, for example.

“There’s no issue if there is an abundance of local rice in the market. But right now, it is hard (for locals) to purchase (local white rice) and we have to fight over it with them (migrant workers),” he said in a Facebook post.

The Umno Youth chief added that his proposal should not be for the long term but simply as a stop-gap measure to deal with the current shortage in the supply of local white rice.

On Thursday, Akmal urged the government to restrict the purchase of locally produced rice to Malaysians since it was subsidised by the government.

His proposal was met by brickbats from a consumer group, who said it would be unfair to foreigners as they also contributed to the country’s economy by paying income tax to the government.

Azman Mahmood of the agriculture and food security ministry’s padi and rice regulatory division also said the suggestion was impractical as it would require businesses to determine their customers’ citizenship.-FMT