Press Statement by YB Chong Chieng Jen:
Four more food and beverage (F & B) manufacturers in Sarawak have written in to the Ministry to apply for sugar import permits for the consumption of their respective factories and the Ministry welcomes more F & B manufacturers to write in to apply.
For the application of the sugar import permits, any F & B manufacturer simply needs to write to the Ministry and supports with information of the amount of sugar required annually for its production.
This is the Ministry’s new policy to liberalize sugar supply in Sarawak with a view to help reduce the costs of production of food and beverage in Sarawak.
This is in sharp contrast with the previous monopoly policy of Barisan Nasional where all local food and beverages manufacturers were compelled to buy sugar from only TWO sugar refineries in Malaysia, namely MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd (MSM) and Central Sugar Refinery SdnBhd (CSR).
At the moment, the price of sugar supplied by sugar refineries in Thailand is less than RM2.00 per kg (inclusive of transport) while the price of sugarsupplied by the two refiners in Malaysia to Sarawak F & B manufacturers is approximately RM2.70 per kg.
As such, huge savingscan be achieved by the Sarawak F & B manufacturers with the grant of the sugar import permits.
I regret that SUPP continues their campaign to smear and defame me on this liberalization policy of the new Government. However, I believe that the SUPP’s sabotage of this new policy will not go very far as more andmore F & B manufacturers start to apply for and getthe sugar import permits.
What SUPP is doing is only helping the two local refiners to continue exploit Sarawak’s F & B manufacturers. This was what happened when
As for the SUPP’s threat to lodge report with the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission on the new liberalization policy and making the allegation of me receiving kick-backs, the SUPP is free to do whatever it wishes.
However, if the SUPP genuinely wants to know who the recipients are, the proper channel is to get the SUPP Member of Parliament or any of the GPS Members of Parliament to submit a question in Parliament. It is strange that having been in the Government for so many decades, SUPP still do not know the parliamentary process of questioning the ministries.
I wish to state clearly that notwithstanding whatever smearing and sabotage that SUPP is up to, the liberalization of sugar supply policy will continue because this new Government is against the monopoly policies created bythe Barisan Nasional or GPS government.
Chong Chieng Jen
Deputy Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
