MELAKA - Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security exco, Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh conducted a surprise inspection at two rice mills in the state yesterday after receiving complaints from the public regarding the lack of local rice supplies in grocery stores and supermarkets.
In a three-minute video, Dr Akmal is seen confronting a mill owner who allegedly refused to sell local rice at the recommended price of RM25.50 for a 10kg bag of rice.
The mill owner claimed that they only had a small profit margin compared to selling imported rice, but Dr Akmal warned that the state government would revoke their licence if they did not comply with the directive.
Meanwhile, Dr Akmal, who is also the Merlimau State Legislative Assemblyman, announced that the state government will be selling local rice at 28 State Legislative Assembly Development and Coordination Committee Offices (Japerun) complexes starting this Saturday.
This step is being taken to ease the supply shortage and to make local rice more accessible to the public. Each Japerun will be supplied with 300 bags of 10kg rice, which will be sold at the price of RM26 per bag.
"So the public can come to the nearby Japerun and we will hold this as long as there is a supply of local rice every week on Saturday or Sunday," Dr Akmal added.