The government must take more stringent actions against the alarming level of rice being smuggled into the country from Thailand, an opposition parliamentarian said today.

In a motion debated late yesterday, Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) said the availability of smuggled rice has been identified as one of the key reasons for the oversupply of rice in the country.

"Figures for Kelantan between Jan 1 and Sept 15 show that rice output totalled 64,400mt (metric tonne) but 116,600mt of rice was distributed from the state. This suggests that more than 52,200mt of rice has been smuggled into the country via our northern border," Mahfuz told reporters today.

Mahfuz added that this was because of the lack of control against the smuggling activities and because there are no clear rules in the country with regard to rice distribution.

"All distributors in the country are not required to hold an invoice showing the origins of their output. As a result, they are free to distribute smuggled rice unchecked," he said.

He also recommended the government to transfer the rights to issue rice permits to one central ministry.

"Currently, rice permits to small factories are issued by the Agriculture Ministry while those to wholesalers are issued by the Consumer Affairs Ministry. The lack of co-ordination between these two ministries has resulted in an over-issuance of permits, thus contributing to the oversupply of rice in the country," said Mahfuz.

Revoke Bernas' right

On a related matter, he said the government should revoke the right of Bernas to be the sole importer of rice in the country.

"This is crucial as a private company will always put profits first. But in this instance, it is crucial that we protect our domestic rice industry," said the PAS politician.

"We suspect that Bernas may have exceeded their quota of imported rice and the surplus is now being distributed to the disadvantage of local producers," he added.

Last week, it was revealed that rice wholesalers have been unwilling to purchase rice from the Association of Malay Rice Millers at the government controlled price as they are able to purchase rice at lower prices from other sources.