Urge government to establish special committee to fight against local rice cartels

SHAH ALAM - The government must establish a secretariat or a special task force under the Prime Minister's Department (JPM) to overcome the lack of supply of goods catered to the public, including rice.

Malaysia Islamic Consumers Association (PPIM) chief activist Datuk Nadzim Johan said a neutral team must be outside of the existing system and was needed to overcome information leakage, amd to find the root of the problem.

He said strict and effective action should be taken afterwards along with identifying the true mastermind of whether it was a cartel or ‘traitor’ from the government or the industry itself.

“This issue seems to be continuing and there seems to be no end in sight. I think its time for us to change the approach by finding individuals outside the system to overcome the issues.

“We can’t use the same approach. If you want changes, there must be more that is being done and it can’t be with the same individuals from within the system. For example, maybe in the current chain of command information could be shared to cartels.

“Therefore, I suggest that a special task force be placed under JPM to ensure that they could monitor, investigate and take appropriate action,” he told Sinar on Tuesday.

Nadzim said enforcement done by the government is still not adequate.

He believed the issue would continue if cartel activities continue to exist.

“The solution is simple, give the heaviest sentence such as the highest fines and prison sentence. It does not matter who is involved, as they must be bought to justice,” he said.