Reduce mask ceiling price to pre-pandemic levels, urges ex-deputy minister
Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen has urged the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to reduce the ceiling price for three-ply face masks to pre-pandemic levels.
This is in light of the government directive of making it mandatory to wear face masks in crowded public places and the normalisation of the production costs of the masks...
Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen has urged the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to reduce the ceiling price for three-ply face masks to pre-pandemic levels.
This is in light of the government directive of making it mandatory to wear face masks in crowded public places and the normalisation of the production costs of the masks.
The single-use masks retailed at a ceiling price of RM0.80 apiece prior to the pandemic.
The government had planned to raise it to RM2.00 apiece amid a global shortage of the mask on March 20 but revised it to the current price of RM1.80 apiece following public outcry.
Beginning Aug 15, the government plans to reduce the price to RM1.20 apiece but Chong (below) argued that the government should go further and return to the original price of RM0.80 apiece.
“Since June this year, the global supply of facemasks had adjusted sufficiently to cater to the increase in the demand therefor due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Now, the costs for production for facemasks have normalised to the pre-Covid times and the previous price ceiling of RM0.80 per piece of three-ply facemasks can give traders very comfortable profit margins to operate.
“Even though the costs of production for facemasks have lowered tremendously to pre-Covid-19 times, with the government setting the price ceiling of RM1.20 per piece, it gives the impression that RM1.20 is a reasonable retail price notwithstanding the huge profit margin with this price.
“This is detrimental to the interest of consumers in general,” he said in a statement today.
He said the high prices will be a financial burden for many poor families and they could be slapped with an RM1,000 fine per person if they fail to comply with the mandatory mask rule.
The government has made it mandatory for people to wear face masks while in crowded public places beginning Aug 1 in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Face masks are believed to be able to prevent the spread of the disease by catching respiratory droplets as it is being breathed out by an infected person, especially since the disease is most infectious before patients start to show signs of illness.
Reusable fabric masks are also deemed acceptable, although the Health Ministry recommends that such masks should also have a three-ply construction as recommended by the World Health Organization.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) has urged the government to provide reusable face masks to B40 income earners to help ensure the success of the mandatory masking rule.
“This is because it is very likely that the underprivileged will be reusing disposable face masks multiple times which will expose them to the risk of infection,” its president Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying.
He said the group has already distributed 2,000 face masks to B40 earners in the Klang Valley since Aug 1 and urged members of the public to support the NGO through donations.
Donations can be channelled to the group’s Bank Islam account number 14-023-01-001117-7, he was quoted as saying.
For the record, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had told reporters on July 29 that the government is looking for ways to provide three-ply fabric masks to the underprivileged.
