BUTTERWORTH: Subsidies will not be cut without careful thought, said Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim puts the people first and will not allow subsidy cuts, especially for food and essential items.
"I have in the past gone to visit him (Anwar) to discuss the decision to withdraw the egg subsidy.
“This was initially rejected over concerns that prices of basic goods would rise.
“We wanted to withdraw the subsidy for (chicken) eggs.
“My officers and I met him many times to inform him that we wanted to withdraw the subsidy for eggs.
“He asked if the price would go up and told me that if it does, I would need to take care of it.
“I told him that we have discussed it with the breeders,” he said during his speech at the Penang Amanah ceramah held in Sungai Dua on Friday (May 8) night.
The Amanah president said that so far, Malaysia has not felt a severe impact from the increase in the prices of essential goods.
"If you want to compare prices in Indonesia, China, Korea and Vietnam especially if you go to the market and look at the prices, prices have gone up for all these food items but look at Malaysia, it is not too bad.
“This is what we want, for the government to handle it. “That is why we told the people not to panic buy rice so we can control the prices for now,” he said.
