KUALA LUMPUR: In a bid to reduce leakages, the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister (KPDN) is now looking to expand the Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme System (eCoss) to include a mobile application.
Its Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the existing system is only able to track the process right from the production to the retail stage.
“However, there is no record of who the retailers are selling the subsidised cooking oil to. This is how leakages happen including smuggling,” he said, adding that the 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 data.”
He said with the data on the application, the ministry will be able to immediately act on the sale of subsidised cooking oil to foreigners.
Armizan also said he will gather the views of the parliamentary special select committee on the matter before highlighting it to the Cabinet.
“We must ensure that it does not burden the people and users,” he said, adding that the cooking oil programme, which costs close to RM2bil a year, comes with huge financial implications.
He assured the people that the ministry is committed to carrying out aggressive enforcement.
Armizan said although there have been proposals by lawmakers to replace the Cooking Oil Stabilisation Scheme (COSS) with cash aids, the government’s priority currently lies in diesel and petrol subsidies rationalisation.
He said at this juncture the COSS programme must continue with improvements.
