Minister: Special committee formed to address pricing disparities in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan

KUCHING (Dec 8): A special committee to focus on the specific challenges faced by Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan on pricing disparities has been formed, revealed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Functions) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.

He said the idea to form the special committee came about following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to Sabah and Labuan yesterday.

“During his visit, the Prime Minister has given a commitment that we need to address this matter seriously, implementing measures in the short term, medium term, and long term to ensure the stability of reasonable prices for our people in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

“For that reason, he has announced the formation of a special committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof to focus on the specific challenges faced by Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan regarding pricing disparities,” he said.

“For instance, recent concerns about chicken prices were addressed, and we observed that prices and supply stabilised after the government withdrew subsidies, costing over RM3 billion.

“We will now scrutinise other aspects to ensure reasonable prices for daily necessities,” he added.

Armizan, who is acting minister for the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN), was speaking to reporters when met after handing over vehicles and assets to the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) Sarawak here today.

He added that KPDN will act as secretariat of the special committee which will also include representatives from various ministries including agriculture, economy, finance, as well as representatives from the governments of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Labuan Corporation.

“The committee will take a holistic approach to address the root causes of pricing disparities and work towards providing goods at more stable prices for the people in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan,” he said.

He also highlighted two existing programmes aimed at standardising prices, namely the ‘Program Penyeragaman Harga ‘Port to Port’’, and ‘Program Pengedaran Barang Perlu, LPG dan Community Drumming’.

“These programmes are focused on Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

“However, we are open to exploring additional measures in collaboration with state governments. If there are specific goods that the state governments wish to directly source from outside, the federal government will facilitate and consider additional allocations,” he said.