KUALA LUMPUR: The Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme (eCOSS) system is likely to be enhanced with a mobile application soon in a bid to reduce leakages.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali told the Dewan Rakyat that currently, the system is only able to track cooking oil from the production to retail stages.
“However, there is no record of the buyers (of subsidised cooking oil).
"This is how leakages happen, including smuggling,” he said, adding that authorities are unable to trace the buyers with the existing system.
“We will bring this to the Cabinet. We don’t need a new system.
"We just have to expand eCOSS by introducing a mobile app so that we can capture the (buyers') data,” he said when winding up debates on the Supplementary Supply Bill on Monday (March 3).
He said that with the data captured by the app, the ministry will be able to act immediately if subsidised cooking oil is sold to foreigners.
Armizan said the ministry would get the views of the relevant Parliamentary Special Select Committee before bringing the matter to the Cabinet.
“We must ensure that it does not burden the people and users,” he said.
He said the cooking oil programme, which costs close to RM2bil a year, has huge financial implications, and the ministry would carry out aggressive enforcement to curb abuse.
Armizan said some lawmakers had suggested replacing eCOSS with cash assistance, but the government's priority was currently on rationalising diesel and petrol subsidies.
He said that at this juncture, eCOSS must continue, albeit with improvements.
