Call to exclude foreigners from govt subsidies

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KOTA KINABALU: Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin has urged the federal government to come up with a more comprehensive measure to ensure that only eligible Malaysians enjoy the various subsidies and incentives being given by the government.

“I do not agree that the subsidies given to the people of Malaysia are also being enjoyed by foreigners, including the illegal immigrants.

“When these foreigners buy fuel for their cars they pay the same price as us and when they buy food items they also pay the same price as us. Why should they enjoy all these privileges being given to us by the government?” he said recently during a debate at the Dewan Rakyat on the motion of thanks on the King’s policy speech.

Chin, who is also the deputy president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also highlighted the issue of high cost of living, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

He said the people were thankful to the government for having established various initiatives; creating a Price Monitoring Committee in managing the rising cost of living and setting up the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia shops across the country to increase competition with other retail stores to offset the cost of goods and so on.

“Needless to say, the government still has a few things to consider seriously. Firstly, the presence of middlemen in the supply chain of a product is one of the biggest factors of the increase in the price of goods in Malaysia. All this while, monitorings were mainly done at the retailers level. However, the price hike is actually controlled and dictated by these middlemen.

“Secondly, economic theory explains that the monopoly on the marketing or production of a product will cause prices to rise in accordance with the companies involved. Take the example of a big company like Bernas’ monopoly of the import and distribution of rice, sugar companies and also companies that import meat from abroad.

“This (monopoly by a few companies) should not have happened because those are essential items and I hope the government comes up with measures to address this problem,” stressed Chin.

On car insurance premium, he said it is no longer a secret that starting in 2012 until 2016, insurance companies were allowed to increase their rate of vehicle insurance premiums each year for five years in phases. The reason for the increase is to accelerate the process of claim or claim payment.

“In this regard, I would like to ask the ministry that after raising the insurance rates that started in 2012, have all the claims by consumers been dealt with efficiently? I see that their services still remain slow.

“As the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will start in April 2015, I call on the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to seriously consider temporarily freezing the increment of the car insurance premium rate, taking into account the difficulties faced by the people this time around,” he added.

Chin also sought a clarification from the Transport Ministry on the issue of AirAsia’s relocation from Terminal 2 of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport to Terminal 1 where facilities are much better and efficient.

According to him, the existing Terminal 2 does not have the quality of an international airport, and if used continuously by AirAsia, this would affect the image of the country and Sabah in particular.

“For example, the condition of the public toilets at Terminal 2 are filthy. Why do I raise this? This is because not all passengers or travellers know the true facts regarding Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

“I’m talking about the image of the State. If this is allowed to continue, the image and economy of Sabah that receives over one million visitors each year will be affected,” he added.