COMMENT | That layers of bureaucracy and intermediaries breed corruption needs little reiteration. Intermediaries and politicians have become synonymous with spiralling graft in the country.

Is there a need for go-betweens that increase costs and do not add to the value chain? Why should honest citizens pay for benefits for which they already qualify?

It may well be a better way of getting things done by letting the farmers deal directly with the land offices while rectifying land tenure security problems.

Cameron Highlands politician and farmer Chai Kok Lim - who stood for elections in 2008 for the Tanah Rata state seat and lost in a surprise defeat - cautioned that the days of affordable vegetables could be over for Malaysians...