MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has refuted claims that he failed to raised concerns of C2-class deep sea fishing trawler operators over diesel subsidy cuts to the National Economic Council (NEC).

NONE Chua (left) said that he was not present during the council meeting last month which discussed the removal of ‘super subsidies’ for nine types of commercial vehicles, as claimed by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday.

"I think the minister may be sleeping, because I did not attend the meeting," he told a press conference at the MCA headquarters today.

Since the subsidy cuts came into force on June 1, MCA has dealt with complaints from the affected trawler operators who wants the government to revert to the RM1.25 per litre price.

They are crying foul over the subsidy removal which would require them to buy diesel at RM1.80 per litre, which is the current price for most consumers.

MCA deputy publicity chief Loh Seng Kok has since lamented that the government was “being tough” on the fishermen while Chua himself had met the fishermen, promising to bring up their case to the NEC, of which he is a member.

Despite MCA's resistance to the subsidy cuts for fishermen, Chua agreed on the need to rationalise subsidies.

"But when the Cabinet - which the MCA ministers are a part of - makes a decision, the government needs to fine tune their decision when it comes to implementation, so that the bottleneck is rectified.

"If (Ismail Sabri's) ministry were to just engage with the fishermen and understand their problems, all this problem would not have arise," said the former health minister at a press conference in the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this evening.

The roughly 1,000 C2-class fishing trawler operators from Kuantan, Johor and Perlis are on their fourth day of strike, refusing to cast their nets and causing fish prices to spiral.

The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar had previously warned fishermen from classes A, B, and C not to join their peers in the C2-class in their strike, threatening to revoke fishing licences if they did.

'MCA ministers also have to toe cabinet line'

Defending the four MCA leaders sitting in the cabinet, Chua said they have done all they can to voice their objections within the government.

"Once a collective decision is made in the cabinet, we have to abide by it. We don't function like how Pakatan Rakyat makes us out to be. It's about the minority respecting the view of majority.

NONE "At the moment, the fishermen are still enjoying the consumer subsidy. It would be a 40 percent jump of diesel prices if they were to remove all subsidies for them," he said.

However, the party president offered few suggestions for what the government can do to alleviate the situation.

"Maybe the government should relook (at) the policy, maybe they could come up with a halfway house, or a time frame," he said, adding that it should not be a "compromise" or a "gradual increase".

As for the fishermen on strike, Chua emphasised the need to remedy the larger issue.

"They have the right to go on strike, but it doesn't solve the problem. If going on strike solves problems, then we don't have to sit here and talk about it," said Chua.

Noh: Fishermen should value subsidies

MCA to take fishermen's woes to NEC

VIDEO | 4.34 mins