KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government should blame the federal government over the series of price hikes, instead of making the businessmen the scapegoats to cover up its own shortcomings and failures, said STAR Sabah chief Jeffrey Kitingan yesterday.
Responding to Chief Minister Musa Aman’s statement blaming the price hikes on middlemen, Kitingan reminded that the ordinary citizens are smarter and more aware nowadays and can see through nonsensical political statements.
“Everyone except the ruling Umno/BN government knows that the recent price hikes are caused by government policies in increasing the petrol and diesel prices, sugar subsidies and now a raise in electricity tariffs and the like,” he said.
He pointed out that these price increases are totally contrary to the BN Manifesto in the May 2013 general election.
“The Prime Minister and the BN had promised the people the stars and the moon just to fish for the votes to remain in power. Six months later and many of these stars and moon promises have been broken,” he said.
The Bingkor assemblyman said it is therefore not surprising for the government leaders to blame others for the price hikes.
“The people should prepare for more price hikes in 2014 and further increases in the costs of living especially in Sabah.
“If the Chief Minister has the information that certain middlemen are undertaking excessive profiteering, he should name them and bring it to the attention of the federal authorities so that action can be taken against the profiteers.
“The government needs to take whatever action to assist the people cope with the rising prices even if it means taking action against the profiteers,” he said.
If the middlemen are merely hiking prices due to the government policies, then they should not be blamed as it would create a wrong impression and not help the Sabah economy, he added.
Exempt Sabah
Kitingan also contended that citing the price of tiger prawns at RM120 per kilogram was not an appropriate comparison to the price hikes of other commodities, as tiger prawns were considered the food for the rich and not on the daily menu of ordinary folk.
“As it is the ordinary folks are having problems coping with rising prices of necessities and not tiger prawns. If at all, the high prices for tiger prawns can be a boon and additional income for the ordinary fishermen.
“I urge the Chief Minister to focus on ways to alleviate and help the ordinary folks cope with rising prices,” suggested the former director of Institute of Development Studies Sabah (IDS).
He said there were many steps the Sabah government led by the Chief Minister could achieve this and asking the federal government to reduce petrol and diesel prices in Sabah was one of them.
“If goods produced in the peninsula is sold at a higher price in Sabah, there is no reason why petrol and diesel from Sabah’s oil and gas resources cannot be sold to Sabahans at a lower price especially now in 2014 Sabah will be contributing RM26.6 billion (up from RM17.88 billion) in oil revenue to Petronas and the federal government. Let the petrol price remain higher in the peninsula,” he said.
Kitingan also proposed that the state government request the federal government to exempt Sabah from the hikes in electricity tariffs and sugar and maintain other subsidies for Sabah.
“The Sabah government should also seek an immediate revision of the oil royalties to 20% for 2014.
“This will contribute an additional RM4.2 billion income for the Sabah government which can then be utilized for welfare programs for Sabahans.
“The question is, is the Sabah government ready and willing to take action on these suggestions for the benefit of Sabahans?” he asked.
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