PETALING JAYA: Do the right thing and do away with sugar subsidies for the sake of public health, says MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).
“The Madani Government claims sugar (intake) is dangerous. That’s the reason given for raising the tax on sweetened beverages on Jan 1, 2024 and implementing duties on pre-mixed drinks from March 1, 2024. But then they proceeded to reinstate the sugar subsidy in November 2023,” Dr Wee said in a video yesterday.
Dr Wee said the Health Minister must oppose any plans to reinstate sugar subsidies or similar incentives as cheaper sugar is a danger to public health and is inconsistent with the government’s policy to promote healthy lifestyles among Malaysians.
Dr Wee, who is also Ayer Hitam MP, said bringing back such subsidies would lead to more consumption of sugar which would then cause more disease and increase treatment costs borne by the Health Ministry.
“I appeal to the new Health Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad) who is learned in the latest medical knowledge not to stay silent (on this issue),” he said.
Dr Wee reminded that former Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa had informed the Dewan Rakyat in November 2023 that 18.3% of adult Malaysians were diabetic which cost the country RM4.38bil per year in treatment costs.
“The National Health Screening Initiative (NHSI) 2023 found that 53% of those screened were ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ with 17.1% of them having high blood glucose levels,” he said, adding Socso also said the number of diabetic patients rose from 9% in 2013 to 19.9% last year.
“Prevention before cure! The government must be committed and consistent in preventing diabetes through policies that reduce sugar intake among the people,” he said.
“This is for the good of us all. Take care of (our) health, reduce sugar, and most importantly, no more subsidies or incentives for sugar production!”
Dr Wee also pointed out that the government had been inconsistent with its sugar policies.
“In October 2023 when there was no sugar subsidy, PMX (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) said there was a sugar subsidy and he wanted to abolish the subsidy due to the health factor,” he said.
However the next month, a sugar subsidy was returned at the rate of RM1 per kilogramme which cost the government RM42mil per month or RM504mil annually, said Dr Wee.
“In December 2023, the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister denied the existence of a sugar subsidy.
“And finally in March this year, Finance Minister II admitted to Parliament that a sugar subsidy had been reinstated from November 2023 but called it an incentive payment instead,” he added.
