TAWAU: Tawau member of parliament Datuk Chua Soon Bui has calld on the government related companies having monopolies on severvices and commodaties.
According to Chua, the price increases have the effect of victimising the people.
“The prices of essential goods and services have kept on increasing resulting from the increase in service tax from five per cent to six, the hikes on the prices of petrol and diesel, the recnt imposition of an additional of RM50 levy on foreign workers, the increase in price of essential items like sugar and cooking oil,” she said yesterday.
“The recent announcernent by telcos imposing a service tax of six per cent on mobile phone users has sparked a public uproar forcing the government to intervene. The matter should not have arisen in the first place. These telcos should be monitored and penalised if they are found to have colluded in price-fixing,” she said.
Chua added the explanation by the government (by Datuk Seri Idris Jala) that the country would go bankrupt and therefore necessitated the imposition and increase of varios taxes was unreasonable. This Had caused in the people to suffer needlessly in other to increase the government’s coffers.
“With the global economic recession, the hardest hit are hardest hit are the middle and lower income families who have to make ends meet every month because of escalating food prices and living costs.
“If the government is serious with its ‘people first’ concept, why does the government have to continue to dig deeper into the people’s pockets rather then reexamine the westtages and leakages incurred by all the ministres and the government linked companies?” she stressed.
“Why does the government ignore the burden and sufferings of the majority of the people and continue to spend luxuriously as in the case of the recent Hari Raya open house held in Permatang Pauh which cost the taxpayers RM6million?
“There are still a large number of families in Sabah who couldn’t even afford to celebrate Hari Raya with their families,” Chua pointed out.
She criticised the government for harbouring and protecting companies having monopolies to increase their charges and prices willy-nilly quoting Independent Power Producers (IPPs), internet service providers sugar, rice and cooking oil producers and telcos, among the biggers culprints, despite having made substantial profits at the expense of the people.
