When sugar leaves bitter taste ___________________________-- The main reason given by the Prime Minister for the removal of the sugar subsidy is that nearly 10% of Malaysians are diabetic. And he made it appear as though this was the core reason for him to remove the sugar subsidy. How ridiculous? A justification that falls short of any acceptable argument by any standard. It is agreed that various consumer groups – both locally and globally – have for long called for sugar intake to be curtailed for health reasons. Similarly, many health experts have urged the public to make a healthy lifestyle change by reducing the intake of sugar. But for the Prime Minister to use diabetes as a reason – even then, by only making a sweeping statement – definitely lacks the finesse expected from a leader to remove the sugar subsidy. This is what the Prime Minister said in his budget speech, and with a smirk at that: “Statistics indicate that 2.6 million Malaysians under the age of 30 are diabetic. If left untreated, patients will face various complications such as heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputation. In relation to this, the government proposes to abolish the sugar subsidy of 34 sen effective 26 October 2013. I urge all Malaysians to take care of their health and reduce sugar in your food and drinks.” That’s all – sugar subsidy was removed with the utterance of these 67 words! There is no doubt that diabetes is a massive concern for us Malaysians but where is the government’s seriousness in battling this chronic disease? There are no major plans under the healthcare allocations for this in this budget. There are no specific proposals to help diabetic patients in fighting this as well. All we have is the sweeping statement that sugar subsidy is being removed in order to put a check on this disease. If the heath of the rakyat was the Prime Minister’s main concern, why didn’t he ban cigarette smoking as it is clinically proven to cause various types of cancer? Is not cancer far more dreaded and costly in treatment? We know the true reasons for this sugar subsidy rationalisation – it is to ensure additional revenue for the government. The rakyat can accept that but the least the Prime Minister could have done was to be honest about it. At the end of the day, don’t forget that it is the rakyat who is going to be burdened by the domino effect caused by the sugar price hike.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 05:24:09 +0000
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