Dr Wee: Do your homework first
KUALA LUMPUR: Amending the Control of Supplies (Amendment) Act 2021 (Act 122) was never about regulating the use of subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), said Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).
The MCA president, who referred to parliamentary hansards in 2021, said the amendments only gave wider enforcement powers to Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry officers.
Dr Wee also said the amendments were debated by numerous MPs from both sides of the political divide before it was passed in Parliament in March 2022.
'Not a single MP mentioned the permit for three subsidised LPG gas cylinders or the use of commercial LPG for restaurants,' said Dr Wee in a video posted on Facebook on Sunday.
Dr Wee said when then Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi was giving a Parliament reply in March 2022, he never mentioned the regulation on subsidised gas cylinders.
'Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, you were not at the Dewan Rakyat then, but you could have checked the Hansard. Do your homework before accusing me,' Dr Wee said.
Armizan, the current Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister, had claimed that the law behind the enforcement, where eateries are required to use 14kg commercial LPG cylinders, was passed when Dr Wee was in the Cabinet in 2021.
'Maybe the regulation on the use of cooking gas in a subsidised gas cylinder not exceeding 42kg was an internal ministerial order, or an instruction from the administration,' added Dr Wee.
Dr Wee said the law behind the enforcement where eateries are required to use 14kg commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was introduced since the 2000s, but it was never enforced until the first Pakatan Harapan government in 2019.
'In early 2019, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister issued orders making it compulsory for restaurants, coffee shops and hawkers to use commercial LPG.
'But Chong Chieng Jen, who was the deputy minister, announced the postponement of that policy following public concerns over price hikes on food. He said food and beverages (F&B) operators are allowed to use subsidised LPG,' said Dr Wee.
'And now, they are trying to enforce it again under the Madani government in 2025.'
He also demanded an apology from Armizan.
'You should apologise to me for your carelessness. As the spokesman of the people, I should have not been sacrificed,' he said.
Meanwhile, Armizan shot back at Dr Wee, saying he was talking about the Control of Supplies (Amendment) Regulations 2021 during a press conference on June 5 and not the Control of Supplies (Amendment) Act 2021 which the MCA president was referring to.
'It is surely impossible to find the legal provisions that I was referring to because as I mentioned A, he was referring to Z,' said Armizan in a statement on Facebook yesterday.
Previously, Armizan had said Ops Gasak is being carried out under three existing laws – the Control of Supplies Act 1961, the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 and the Control of Supplies (Amendment) Regulations 2021.
Armizan had also said that the regulation was enforced during the previous administration in 2021, of which Dr Wee had served as a Cabinet Minister.
Yesterday, Dr Wee had said though he served as a Cabinet Minister in 2021, he has never been involved in approving such regulations.
On Thursday, Armizan had said that small and micro-scale F&B operators will be exempted from enforcement under the ongoing Ops Gasak
Armizan said the Cabinet agreed to review the regulations on the use of subsidised LPG cylinders by such traders, after recommendations submitted by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry.
Ops Gasak, which began on May 1 and will run until Oct 31, is meant to curb illegal activities such as decanting (transferring gas from subsidised LPG cylinders to non-subsidised ones), smuggling and the misuse of subsidised LPG by medium and large-scale industrial sectors.
Dr Wee had said Ops Gasak should have focused on large-scale operations and at the borders, and not on petty traders and hawkers.
The crux of the issue, he said, is the smuggling activities at the borders and abuse of targeted subsidies.
The Petaling Jaya Coffeeshop Association has also said a switch to commercial LPG by hawkers could lead to consumers paying higher food prices.
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