SEMENYIH: The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry issued three notices to traders after a reported increase in the prices of essential items leading up to the Deepavali festival.
This was following a report by the New Straits Times on Friday where the Penang Hindu Association (PHA) had found that the price difference for essential goods between November last year and November this year had increased.
PHA said among the affected items were cardamom, fennel and cumin seeds, rice, milk powder, ghee, curry powder, wheat flour, rice flour, chili powder, cinnamon, tamarind, cooking oil, sago, gingerly oil, prayer oil, bru coffee, whole green gram, black gram, dried chili, mee hoon, pulut rice, condensed milk, as well as onions.
Its acting minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said checks by the ministry found only some of the items had increased in price but it was not attributed to the festivities.
"We have done our checks, and through our findings, not all the items listed have seen price increases.
"Some items have indeed increased in price, while some have actually decreased from the list mentioned by the NST.
"These price hikes are due to the average import prices, exchange rates and the value of the Ringgit and not because of the festive season."
He said that following checks, enforcement officers had issued three response notices to traders.
"In response to the issues raised by NST, we have issued three response notices.
"This means our enforcement officers have issued notices to traders for specific items.
"I don't have the details now, but these traders need to respond to the authorities regarding why the price increases were made at what we consider to be an unjustified rate."
He also urged the public to formally report any complaints to the ministry and not post it to social media.
"For every complaint reported in the interest of the people, we will ensure an investigation is conducted.
"However, we strongly hope that complaints are made formally and not just through messages like WhatsApp.
"We prefer that if there are issues of misconduct, it's better to convey the information to us so we can investigate it directly, rather than going viral first."
Armizan said this would prevent suspects involved in such cases from disposing of their evidence.
Earlier, Armizan had presented Deepavali donations to the Jayaa Sri Welfare Organisation, here.
Also present were the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living deputy minister Fuziah Salleh, the ministry's enforcement director-general Datuk Azman Adam and Hulu Langat member of parliament Mohd Sany Hamzan.