Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING: Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen has refuted allegation that Putrajaya’s decision of issuing sugar import licences to eight food and beverage (F&B) manufacturers in Sarawak would benefit him and his ‘cronies’ in Democratic Action Party (DAP).
He stressed that the new liberalisation policy was introduced by the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led federal government to counter the previous ‘monopolistic policy’ under Barisan Nasional (BN).
In a statement issued yesterday, Chong – also PH Sarawak chairman and DAP Sarawak chief – said any Sarawak-based F&B manufacturer could apply for the sugar licence so long as they genuinely required sugar in their production, and the sugar imported must only be for their own production and not for resale.
He said one local F&B manufacturer received the licensing late last year, while the others received theirs this month.
“It (sugar import licence) is open to any F&B manufacturer to write in to the ministry and apply.
“There is no restriction or closing date for such application, except that the sugar imported must be for the applicant’s own use.
“Therefore, if SUPP (Sarawak United People’s Party) thinks that those who have been issued with the APs (approved permits; in this case, for sugar imports) are my cronies, then (those in) the whole F&B sector in Sarawak will and can be my cronies,” Chong said.
However, Chong did not name any company that had been awarded the AP.
On Wednesday, a political secretary to the chief minister Tan Kai challenged Chong to name the eight F&B manufacturers that were granted the sugar import APs.
He said in addition to identifying the companies, Chong should also inform how the ministry arrived at a decision to grant the APs to these companies.
Tan pointed out that the DAP used to criticise the previous government for abusing APs, saying that these permits had been granted to ‘their cronies’.
“So DAP should openly announce the name of the companies which obtained the APs to prove that they are not abusing the APs,” said Tan, who sits on SUPP Central Committee.
In this respect, Chong pointed out that the APs had been issued directly to the manufacturers, without any middleman transaction or ‘rent-seeking Ali Baba’, which he claimed as being ‘the hallmark of the previous BN’s administration’.
“The successful applicants also do not need to pay me anything,” he said.
Moreover, Chong said with the success in the implementation of the partial liberalisation sugar policy in Sarawak, the ministry would be eyeing the same for Sabah.
“So far, the whole F&B industry is happy with this liberalisation policy because it has reduced their cost of production tremendously; a saving of approximately RM1,000 per tonne and it involves hundreds – for some, even thousands – of tonnes of sugar (for) each manufacturer.”
Chong added that the only parties unhappy with the new policy were MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd (MSM) and Central Sugar Refinery Sdn Bhd (CSR) which, all this while, had been enjoying the exclusive rights of supplying sugar for the whole country.