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A minister has called on the Malays to band together and boycott businesses that refuse to lower product prices despite the price of fuel having nosedived.
In a Facebook posting that has since been pulled down, Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ismail Sabri Yaakob told Malays that since they formed the majority of consumers in the country, they should boycott Chinese establishments as a means of forcing the owners to lower prices.
He said that although the government through the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, could tackle errant businesspeople using the Price Control Act and the Anti-Profiteering Act, it was consumers who ultimately wielded the greatest power when it came to lowering market prices.
He lamented however that Malays continued to frequent these establishments although many of these food outlets either did not have “halal” certifications or if they did, had certificates that were “suspect”.
He fingered out Old Town White Coffee and wondered why Malays did not instead go to the thousands of other Malay restaurants that were genuinely “halal”. He said, “but still the Malays refuse to boycott…more so when the owner is said to be from DAP Perak’s Ngeh family who is widely known to be anti-Islam…”
He also said that it was time Malays changed their consumer behaviour patterns in order to stop the Chinese from exploiting them any further. “…as long as the Malays do not change… the Chinese will continue to take the opportunity to suppress the Malays”.
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Ismail Sabri has adamantly refused to apologise for his call to Malays to boycott Chinese traders who refused to lower the prices of their goods because he believes his views were spot on and beneficial to people of all races.
He said many Chinese consumers were also disappointed with the high price of goods in the market despite the slump in oil prices and told the Malaysian Insider, “No way nak minta maaf (I will not apologise).”
Turning the tables on MCA who have demanded an apology from him, the minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry said instead, “My message is thank me for defending the Chinese, too.”
He also believed that despite all the threats from MCA last week, the party would not re-open the matter in the next cabinet meeting simply because the prime minister had already issued a formal statement and the matter was considered closed.
In the statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Najib Razak said Ismail was not specifically singling out the Chinese per se, but referring to errant traders of all races who refused to lower the prices of their goods.
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