There is possible conflict of interest in the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) ruling which require fish importers to use the more expensive food grade fish boxes, claims Federal Territory Gerakan Youth chief Lau Hoi Keong.

According to Lau, the LKIM marketing division director Mohari Mohammad Tamin is one of the director in KF Marketing Sdn Bhd - the sole distributor of the containers.

 

“There may be four manufacturers for the containers, but KF Marketing has a monopoly over the distribution and controls the prices,” he said.

When contacted, Mohari said: “I’ve already explained to the Chinese media but whatever I say will not satisfy anyone."

He declined further comment.

'Subsidised boxes limited'

According to China Press today, Mohari reportedly said that his position in the company was only to supervise its product quality and pricing.

He also said that there was a need for a sole distributor to ensure proper quality control.

Currently, Malaysia is facing a shortage of imported fish because imports have been frozen due to a boycott by fish importers who are unhappy with the government requirement to use the new fish containers.

Among others, fish importers are up in arms over having to buy the boxes through a middleman instead of sourcing the boxes directly from the manufacturers.

The ruling effective today, requires fish importers to use the new containers which cost RM205. This is offset with a government subsidy of RM60.

Though this means fish importers only need to pay an extra RM10 for the new containers, the new scheme allows for only 60,000 containers to be subsidised by the government, alleged Lau.

What to do with old containers?

When contacted, Malaysian Fish Importers and Wholesaler Committee member Tan Tiean Seng expressed unhappiness with the new ruling and hoped that the government would heed their demands.

Tan said until a workable solution is found, the government should allow fish importers to continue using the old fish containers, which would be left to waste should it be banned immediately.

“What are we going to do with so many old containers?” he asked

The plan was previously scrapped but was reintroduced under the tenure of the new Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar.