No more excuses, Daim advises gov't to bring down food costs

After nearly two years in power, former Council of Eminent Persons chairperson Daim Zainuddin said the Pakatan Harapan government should stop making excuses on efforts to ultimately bring down the people's cost of living.

"We don't want to hear excuses anymore... What I am interested in, what all of you are interested in, at the end of the day is results.

"Show us the result. That's all," Daim (photo) said during a question and answer session after delivering a public lecture as part of the Malaysian Institute of Management's Tunku Abdul Rahman series in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Hopefully after this, by next year, there will a new commitment.

"We want the food prices to come down so Malaysia will benefit... Create employment through agriculture, so that income will increase and everyone will benefit," said the former finance minister who is often described as one of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's closest advisers.

"What we want is more important - a healthy life, productivity goes up, cost of living goes down and income goes up," he stressed.

He also cautioned that the people have been giving signals, which had been ignored by the government, that they were unhappy with the slow progress so far.

Earlier in his speech, Daim underscored the role of the agriculture sector as key to achieving the desired goals for a sustainable future.

"Some of you may be surprised, I am a farmer now, with a small farm.

"As a result, my perspective on Malaysia's development is now firmly grounded in the idea that agriculture is one of our ways forward," he said.

"Our nation's future lies mainly in precise, modern agriculture.

"We must not ignore future industries too, such as AI and robotics. But food, like clothing and housing, will always be in demand and will continue to be a very important sector," he said.

He also reiterated his reported call for the government to set-up a new one-stop agency chaired by Mahathir to coordinate the agricultural sector.

Among others, he said the agency's role should be to assist more Malaysians who are keen to be modern farmers but faced difficulties to obtain land as well as financing opportunities.

"I'm confident that if the government is serious, many young farmers will take it up.

"Not only will it help to cover and reduce our food costs, but there can also be excess produce for export purposes," he said.

'No problems with China'

Meanwhile, when met by reporters later, Daim was asked his views on how Malaysia should manage its ties with China, amid global backlash over reported atrocities committed against China's Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.

"We have no problem with them... At least I don't have a problem with them," said the veteran politician who was sent by Mahathir as Malaysia's special envoy to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang shortly after Harapan took over federal power.

"We are very close friends. We have a long history with China.

"We know each other very well. There is no problem," he said.

On Dec 9, China ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian, in an opinion piece carried by several local media here, refuted what he described as sensationalised "half-truths" by Western media.

Last month, the New York Times had exposed a trove of leaked Chinese government documents which revealed details of its clampdown on Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang under President Xi Jinping.

United Nations experts and activists say at least one million Uyghurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in camps in Xinjiang in a crackdown that has drawn condemnation from the US and other countries.

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