KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) has urged the public to abstain from eating chicken throughout the month of June to restore its supply.
Its president Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason said the choice is in the hands of consumers, as there are alternatives.
"As consumers, we have the right to choose. The change begins with you," he said in a TikTok video preceding their campaign which begins this June.
The one-minute-clip, which was previewed to the New Straits Times shows a man telling Marimuthu that there was a "big problem".
He said he had gone to the market at 7am and all the chicken had already been sold out.
At that point, a woman comes into the picture, serving Marimuthu three large pieces of chicken.
Marimuthu however says "apa ayam-ayam (what do you mean by chicken), and goes on to say that "we (people at large) have to reduce the consumption of chicken".
Last week Marimuthu urged the public to boycott consuming chicken for a month to put an end to the skyrocketing prices of the birds.
He told the NST this had to be done because the public had been at the mercy of chicken price manipulators for far too long.
Marimuthu said chicken and eggs were the cheapest and most widely available sources of animal protein hence their prices were sensitive to manipulation.
"If Malaysian consumers are unwilling to change their consumption patterns and look for other sources of protein, we are going to have serious food shortage issues.
"I'm sick of begging the government to ensure that food is available in the market. This crisis is never-ending and it has only been compounded by the war, inflation and climate change. But if consumers unite to boycott chicken, they can send a strong message to those responsible for the shortage," he added.
The government previously set the ceiling price of standard chicken at RM8.90 per kg, however traders claimed that the birds were supplied to them at RM8.70 per kg, making it impossible to cover their cost.
Bumiputera Retailers Association president Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin had also said the government should call up the five to six major chicken suppliers nationwide allegedly behind the domestic livestock shortage to give an explanation.
He told the NST that the authorities should call up these major suppliers and those in cahoots with them to the table and issue them with an ultimatum to restore chicken supplies in the next two months.
Ameer said if the breeders failed to increase their production within the stipulated timeframe, their operating licences and permits should be revoked and suspended.
He said these "bigwigs" should be blacklisted from doing business if need be.
He was drawing on the statements issued by the Federation of Malaysian Breeders Associations last week that hot weather allegedly had stunted the development of the birds.
This heralded the supply disruption in markets that began on a widescale on May 21.
The statement followed a report where industry sources said breeders were planning a "weekend-boycott" after four companies issued a circular to parties concerned to suspend operations over the government's delay in providing a 60 sen subsidy for farmers' per kilogramme of chicken produced.
However, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed that several major companies did not even apply for the subsidy.
Ameer said the masterminds of the crisis were silent, but wielded their powers over the small breeders.
"Consumers and retailers like me, who are only getting a third of the supply ordered from them, are at their mercy."