While the government's decision to increase the floor price for padi will not affect consumers and retailers since rice is price-controlled, it will not help boost the supply of local rice, said Mydin managing director Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin.
Malaysia will call on Asean's main rice-supplier nations to give priority to exporting the staple food to member countries at the Asean Ministers' Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry.
Umno Youth chief Dr Muhammad Akmal Salleh says he has uncovered the unscrupulous activities of rice cartels that have been duping the public by converting Super Special Local (SST) rice into broken rice and selling it at inflated prices.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has assured that the government is not sitting idle and instead will do everything in its power to ease the burden of the people, who have been affected by the current increase in global rice prices.
The government has started one out of four of its intervention initiatives today in an effort to tackle the supply shortage of local white rice, including taking rice samples for chemical analysis to determine their originality.
Hakim Mohd Nazlan berkata kesalahan rasuah adalah serius yang mengganggu gugat pertumbuhan ekonomi, apatah lagi dilakukan oleh seorang yang menjalankan tanggungjawab kehakiman
