Back to the 60s?

The following news reposted from Sin Chew revealed the acute rice shortage faced by the country. If the basic staple food of the country is in short supply and the fact reveals that we are indeed in short supply, then the inflation spiral would bring the country back to the 60s where the people can't even afford to put rice on the table just like the era of the Japanese occupation.

The world is facing a food shortage crisis and many underdeveloped nation are facing unrest and riots because of the price hike of rice and food grains. Our PM agreed that the food/rice shortage could topple the government but that is as far as it goes. The PM should explain to the people why the county of only 23 million are facing rice shortage when our neighbour, Thailand, is one of the biggest exporters of rice. The BN government privatisation of the rice supply in the 70s whereby the LPN passed the rice distribution rights to the Bernas was questioned by certain quarters for the recent rice shoratge. Furthermore, the Malaysian government has ordered some 500,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand and that revealed the seriousness of the rice shortages in Malaysia and proven that we do not have a food security mechanism at the moment. If Malaysia is hit by the natural disaster like the one in Mymmar or China, then what would be the consequences on the people.

Many Malaysian have been mislead by the authorities that there is ample supply of rice when the country's stock can last 2-3 weeks only. A few days back, i heard a conversation between some woman shoppers and one of them said " the newspapers photos show that there are sufficent stock in the supermarket, so there is no truth in the rumour that there is rice shortage". What a sad news, the ignorant of the people is a far more serious crisis than the shortage itself!

David Wong
18-05-2008



米價漲無法負擔‧逾百人抗議通膨壓力
北馬 2008-05-19 10:53

農民穿米袋，手拿木薯，抗議米價、草藥和肥料高漲。（圖：星洲日報）
（吉打‧居林）約百名商家、農民和民眾抗議通貨膨脹，尤其是米價高漲。他們申訴漲幅已讓貧窮百姓無法負擔。

週日（18日）下午3時左右，來自巴東色海的這批人在魯乃路展開抗議行動。

他們分別穿上米袋，用馬來西亞文和華文書寫大字報，表達他們的生活在物價高漲下深受影響，促請政府當局關注。

農民不滿農藥肥料高高漲

農民在抗議活動上不滿農藥和肥料漲幅過高，加重耕種成本。

抗議活動召集人之一莫念瑪丁說，如今物價高漲，讓窮人的生活雪上加霜，人民不滿物價高漲，希望促請政府控制物價。

他希望國會議員嚴正看待此事，他們受人民委託，應該替人民反映心聲，而不是在國會上吵架。

他說，如果米價再不受控，窮人都要沒有米飯可吃，只能以木薯填肚了。