MIRI: Dayak Transformation Association (Trada) urges the federal and state governments to collaborate and bring down prices of daily goods and essential items in Sabah and Sarawak immediately.
President and founder of Trada, Joseph Janting said communities in Sabah and Sarawak have been impacted badly by Covid-19 pandemic.
“The youth and people under the B40 category are the worst hit because of income loss and unavailability of jobs,” he added.
Joseph pointed out that the situation was made worse because of expensive and rising prices of daily goods and essential items.
“Items like clothing, food, consumer goods and vehicles have always been more costly in Sabah and Sarawak compared to Malaya due to factors such as logistics, market size and distribution system,” he explained.
He noted that the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs was currently embarking on a programme to standardise prices of goods in the country.
“We welcome the effort by the ministry and ask that the process be expedited. We also believe that the price of daily consumer goods should be brought even lower considering the average household income levels in Sabah and Sarawak, which is significantly lower than that in Malaya,” said Joseph.
“With more people facing financial pressures, high prices will cause consumers to turn to black-market products, which are easily available in Sabah and Sarawak as a result of our porous borders. This situation can lead to all kinds of social and economic problems,” Joseph noted.
He pointed out the price of legal cigarettes in the Borneo states were two to five times higher that illegal cigarettes.
“Trada supports the proposal by a Member of Parliament, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, to initiate a pilot programme that will bring the price of legal cigarettes closer to illegal products.
“Sabah and Sarawak are an ideal test bed for this proposal given the severity of the cigarettes black market in these states.
“We cannot allow the black market of daily essential goods to go out of control like illegal cigarettes. Prices can be lowered quickly through innovative policies, tax reforms, utilisation of technology and better collaboration between both states and the federal government,” added Joseph.
