As early as January, before Muhyiddin Yassin launched his “Sheraton coup” to topple his own government in order to form Perikatan Nasional backdoor government with corrupt regime UMNO and extreme Islamist party PAS, the then-Pakatan Harapan government had categorized face masks as price control items following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (which was still known as 2019-nCoV).
Essentially, 2-layer medical or surgical mask was fixed at RM0.20 each while the retail price for 3-layer of the same mask was selling at RM0.80 each. Traders or retailers found to have breached the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 would face fines up to RM100,000 or maximum 3-years’ jail, or both, or pay a compound of RM50,000.
But not many lucky souls managed to get their hands on the precious commodity. Thanks to panic buying of face masks, and even hand sanitisers, people continued with their normal life without the first defence. Get real, washing hands with soap is only sufficient if you stay at home. Once you go out, you’re taking a risk without a mask simply because you constantly breathe.
Now, after the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases breached the 1,000 mark to 1,030 with an additional 130 cases, not to mention a third death, the backdoor government of Muhyiddin Yassin has finally banned the exports of face masks effective March 18. It was quite amazing that the government took weeks before decided to take care of fellow Malaysians.
On March 6, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said the Muhyiddin government “may impose” a temporary ban on the export of face masks to meet local demand. Nothing happened. A week later on March 14, the same ministry said in the event of a serious shortage of face masks, the government “will consider” a face mask export ban. Still, nothing happened.
So, the genius in the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry had taken 2 weeks just to think and consider whether an export ban was a good idea, despite the number of Coronavirus cases kept hitting the roof – from 2-digit to 3-digit. Today, Malaysia has the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 infections in Asia – just behind South Korea (8,652), Iran (18,407) and China (80,967).
Perhaps the incompetent backdoor government wanted to wait to ensure enough people have died before seriously taking a simple action like securing face masks for the people. But even when the clueless ministry finally announced the export ban, the price of the 3-layer or three-ply face mask will now cost RM2 instead of RM0.80 a pop – a whopping 150% increase.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi claimed that the price of face masks needed to be increased due to higher cost of production materials. He said – “By allowing face masks to be sold at RM2, we hope to encourage local manufacturers to produce more.” He must have forgotten that the Pakatan Harapan had been the government prior.
The Pakatan Harapan coalition, which had since collapsed, exposed that apparently prior to the coup, the previous government had had discussions with local manufacturers to boost the stocks to ensure sufficient supply of masks within the country. In fact, it was revealed that the then-Pakatan Harapan government was prepared to purchase the face mask at RM0.60 a pop.
Now in the opposition, the Pakatan Harapan presidential council has claimed that the mask manufacturers “did not” demand for any price increase during discussions with the previous Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry. The manufacturers only asked for help with problems of insufficient workers, additional operation shifts, tax breaks and obtaining raw materials.
And those discussions took place before China managed to solve the Coronavirus plaguing the country. Now that the Chinese has won the war against the pathogen, getting the raw materials should not be an issue anymore. In fact, China has excessive products that it has donated 100,000 face masks to Malaysia, scheduled to arrive through an AirAsia flight on Friday (March 20).
Heck, China is flush with tons of masks that Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma has donated 1-million masks and 500,000 Coronavirus test kits to the United States, which is scheduled to arrive in the U.S. on Monday morning. In addition, the wealthiest man in China will also send 2-million masks, 150,000 test kits, 20,000 protective suits and 20,000 face shields to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
With Muhyiddin now works hand-in-glove with the corrupt UMNO, will the past hanky-panky practice emerge once again where the hundreds of thousands of donated masks somehow disappear only to appear on the shelves of some retailers, making someone within the government very rich and laugh all the way to the bank? But that was not the main juice.
The juiciest part is this – if it was true that the local mask manufacturers could not produce 3-layer masks at RM0.60 a piece, which is not true based on Pakatan Harapan’s revelation, why can’t the government allow imports of the masks without raising the market price to RM2? Yes, some government cronies will be making 150% profit out of every face mask at the expense of the ordinary folks.
It was pretty simple to fix the shortage of face masks, if indeed Muhyiddin regime was sincere in helping the people. First, ban all exports of face masks under the pretext of national security. Second, the government will purchase all the masks manufactured locally at RM0.60 a piece as per discussed with the previous government. Third, allow imports of face masks to ensure sufficient supply and low price.
After all, it was only in February (before Muhyiddin’s coup to create the present backdoor government) that the previous Pakatan Harapan government officially announced that the shortage of 3-layer masks would be resolved once local manufacturers start to increase production with an extra 400,000 pieces daily – suggesting that it was still profitable even selling at RM0.60.
Hence, how could it be possible that the cost of production materials suddenly increases by a jaw-dropping 150% between February and March, at a time when China (the country has zero new cases domestically for a second consecutive day, mind you) has recovered from the plague and has so many extra masks to give away? The answer is quite obvious.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry admitted back in March 6 that thanks to the outbreak, the demand for 3-layer masks has skyrocketed to 15-million pieces every month. If the government were to buy at RM0.60 (as per earlier discussion between Pakatan Harapan and manufacturers) and resell at RM0.80 a pop, the profit will be only RM1.5 million based on 50:50 profit sharing with retailers.
Of course, if the previous government decided not to make any profit, the retailers will enjoy the entire RM3 million profits based on RM0.20 profit margin. However, now that Muhyiddin government decided to raise the market price to RM2 per piece, suddenly the profit will be RM18 million – every month. Even if retailers are allowed to make RM0.20 a pop, the government cronies will walk away with RM15 million.
Now, do you understand why the ministry announced that besides an increase of price from RM0.80 to RM2 for a piece of face mask, the government has also decided to allow imports of the masks? By doing so, the actual price could be even lower than RM0.60 due to competition. An additional RM0.10 of lower cost will translate to a cool extra RM1.5 million easy money without lifting a finger – every month.
Indeed, it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that Muhyiddin’s backdoor government is a bloodsucking regime who would not blink twice at profiting from the people even in times of Coronavirus pandemic. To prove its innocence, the government must therefore debunk the revelation that the manufacturers had agreed to sell face mask at RM0.60 a piece to the Pakatan Harapan government.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Movement Control Gets Out Of Control – After His Own Screw-Up, PM Muhyiddin Warns Of Extended Lockdown
- A Disgraceful PM – Despite First Death From Coronavirus, Muhyiddin Discriminated Opposition States From A Covid-19 Meeting
- 2 Weeks Lockdown! – Panic & Confusion Continue Before And After PM Muhyiddin Announced The “Big News”
- Malaysia Appears On Track To Become The New Epicenter Of Coronavirus After 16,000 People Attended A Mosque Event
- China Appears To Be Winning The Coronavirus War, And Other Countries Are Studying How The Chinese Did It
- Muhyiddin’s Legitimacy In Question – The US, UK, EU & Even China Have Yet To Recognize His Backdoor Government
- Arabs Conspiracy Theories – Coronavirus Is The U.S. & Israel Biological Warfare To Cripple China’s Economy & Reputation
- This Chart Shows How Coronavirus Has Turned Asia’s Best Performing Currency In 2019 To The Worst This Year
- How China’s Disease Surveillance System Discovered The Coronavirus Within 1-Week Of Illness Reports
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March 21st, 2020 by financetwitter
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Comments
I have heard of snatch thieves but this is worse. Playing around with peoples’ lives is another thing. Fearing God more than fearing Covid19 is not working at all. Putting the nation at risk is treason and should be dealt with severely.
Should Authorities not confiscate his stocks and impose penalties double the profits made and the seller sent to prison for one year?
CRIME AGAINST A VULNERABLE SOCIETY AND
IN NEED?
All these while for me personally, you need to have a strict and discipline teacher to assure that you walk on a better road, a wise leader to assure your future secured.. But somehow we here got an back door gov where all history of abuse power, making tons of money from citizens whereby we’re going on war with life and death. Hope this article could be share thoroughly into web to inform every single citizen of Malaysian. But of Cos have to be translated into Bahasa Malaysia as to educate more people.
How will the h8vernment distribute the free face masks donated by China or pass on to their cronies to sell at exorbitant prices to the general public?
My suggestion please distribute those donated face masks to our frontline medical and police personnel. The public shall have to stay home and not w wonder around.
Posting menipu dari blogger pro-DAP ini yang mengambil peluang menghasut RAYkat dengan menuduh kerajaan PN sengaja menaikkan harga topeng muka dari 80 sen hingga RM2.00 untuk mengaut keuntungan RM18 juta sebulan adalah sangat berniat jahat pada masa krisis kovid ini.
Ini keadaan sebenarnya.
Sebelum wabak covid bermula, Malaysia mengimport 90% keperluan topeng muka kita – terutama dari negara China.
Kini hanya ada empat kilang tempatan yang mengeluarkan topeng muka tetapi ini adalah topeng muka gred yang lebih tinggi dan unuk dieksport ke negara lain sahaja.
Setelah wabak Covid bermula pada akhir bulan Januari, banyak negara-negara lain telah mengharamkan eksport topeng muka.
Walaupun tidak ada larangan rasmi kerajaan, pengeluar negara China pula fokus untuk membekal keperluan domestik pada masa China mengalami krisis Covid yang besar.
Akibatnya, pengimport Malaysia mengalami kesukaran untuk membekal pasaran tempatan.
Pada bulan Februari di bawah rejim Gagalkrasi PH, Malaysia sudahpun mengalami kekurangan topeng muka dalam pasaran tempatan.
05 Feb 2020: Shortage of face masks in JB amid coronavirus scare, some retailers selling above price ceiling
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/wuhan-coronavirus-masks-malaysia-johor-bahru-price-ceiling-12388090
17 Feb 2020: Pharmacies report shortage of face masks, sanitisers
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/219655
Pada ketika itu, rejim PH pun membuat satu lagi jaminan tak boleh pakai mereka bahawa bekalan topeng muka adalah mencukupi.
13 Feb 2020: COVID-19: Kerajaan jamin bekalan topeng muka mencukupi – Saifuddin
http://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/covid-19-kerajaan-jamin-bekalan-topeng-muka-mencukupi-saifuddin-230643
Selain menipu, kerajaan PH juga gagal mengambil kira satu perkara:
Bahawa permintaan topeng muka dari negara-negara lain di luar China akan meningkat begitu pantas sekali.
Sejak pertengahan bulan Februari, kenaikan kes Covid di luar China telah jauh melebihi China.
Sebab itu, seluruh dunia sedang mengalami kekurangan bekalan topeng muka.
18 Mac 2020: The Global Effort to Tackle the Coronavirus Face Mask Shortage
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-03-18/the-global-effort-to-tackle-the-coronavirus-face-mask-shortage
Malah, bukan hanya bekalan topeng muka sahaja yang mengalami tekanan tetapi bahan mentah untuk pengeluaran topeng muka serta mesin-mesin yang menghasilkan topeng muka juga terkesan.
Pada ketika ini, Malaysiia mengalami saingan yang hebat untuk mengimport bekalan-bekalan ini kerana negara-negara lain terutamanya negara barat mampu menawarkan harga yang lebih tinggi.
Tetapi, ada suatu berita yang lebih baik.
Sejak wabak Covid bermula, negara China telah menaikkan kapasiti pengeluaran topeng muka sebanyak 8 kali ganda setelah banyak syarikat-syarikat gergasi tempatan negara itu yang sebelum ini tidak pernah menghasilkan satu keping topeng muka digalakkan dan disuruh untuk menukar mesin serta kilang mereka untuk menghasilkan topeng muka.
Namun, permintaan yang meningkat jauh lebih tinggi di negara-negara barat serta kekurangan bahan mentah telah menaikkan kos setiap unit topeng muka.
Ini bermakna kerajaan PN sekarang perlu meggunakan hubungan diplomasi mereka dengan negara China bagi memastikan bekalan topeng muka kepada kita walaupun harga sudah meningkat.
Kerajaan PN berjaya apabila negara China berjanji membekal 10 juta unit tetapi pada kos yang lebih tinggi – iaitu sekitar RM1.50 hingga RM2.00 sekeping termasuk kos pengangkutan dan sebelum kos pengedaran tempatan.
Komitmen 10 juta topeng muka ini dijangka tiba minggu depan tetapi keutamaan diberi untuk membekal barisan hadapan kita seperti doktor dan jururawat dan perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan kritikal seperti polis dan industri logistik yang memastikan bekalan makanan kita mencukupi.
Selebihnya pula akan diagihkan ke pasaran tempatan melalui syarikat milik LTAT, Pharmaniaga.
Namun, 10 juta helai masih tidak mencukupi dan kerajaan PN perlu berusaha lebih gigih lagi.
Ramai yang tidak tahu bahawa pada hari kedua Menteri PN masuk kerja iaitu 12 Mac, kerajaan PN telah mengeluarkan arahan untuk mengharamkan eksport topeng muka yang entah kenapa tidak pernah dihalang oleh kerajaan PH dahulu walaupun wabak Covid sudahpun teruk.
Namun arahan ini hanya diwartakan secara rasmi minggu lepas.
Dengan ini, empat kilang pengeluar topeng muka tempatan kini telah diarahkan oleh kerajaan PN untuk membatal kontrak eksport mereka dan membekal pasaran domestik.
Sebagai satu lagi langkah mengurangkan kos topeng muka, saya diberitahu bahawa kerajaan PN juga akan memansuhkan cukai jualan SST menteri kewayangan 10% hingga 20% ke atas topeng muka dalam masa beberapa hari lagi.
Sementara waktu ini adalah saranan saya kepada kerajaan PN dan Rakyat ialah:
1. Gunakan tempoh perintah kawalan keluaran 2 minggu ini untuk mencari pembekal baru dari seluruh dunia bagi memastikan bekalan topeng muka tempatan akan cukup bagi jangka masa pendek.
2. Menggalakan serta membantu kilang-kilang termpatan untuk memulakan pengeluaran topeng muka dan mesin topeng muka.
Menghasilkan topeng muka bukan satu cabaran tekonologi yang teramat canggih manakala negara kita adalah pengeluar bahan plastik dan petroliam yang merupakan sebahagian dari bahan mentah utama untuk menghasilkan topeng muka.
Memastikan pengeluaran topeng muka tempatan adalah mencukupi untuk negara juga adalah satu aspek untuk menjamin keselamatan negara.
3. Hapuskan cukai jualan ke atas topeng muka, bahan mentak serta mesin yang menghasilkan topeng muka serta mengkaji jika kerajaan mampu memberi subsidi jangka masa pendek untuk mengurangkan harga topeng di pasaran.
4. Rakyat juga digalakkan untuk kurang keluar dari rumah pada jangka masa pendek jika tiada keperluan mendesak setelah perintah kawalan pergerakkan berakhir bagi mengurangkan permintaan dan penggunaan topeng muka. pada masa bekalan yang mencukupi belum dapat dijamin.
Namun, saya percaya harga serta bekalan topeng muka tempatan akan memulih tidak lama lagi setelah kerajaan mengambil langkah untuk mengurangkan cukai dan kos topeng muka disamping menunggu pengeluaran tempatan meningkat.
kamu tulis ber-kilometer buat apa … sekarang kerajaan PN sendiri dah kata memang RM2 mahal … nak bincang pasal nak turun harga semula – U-turn lah tu …
I doubt you’ll publish this.
please stop slandering and publishing nonsense news. what are you trying to do? escalate the political heat is it?
what is your true intention?
lu sudah lama hidup ka?
hello abang_army … stop talking like a mangkuk … even the backdoor government now admits RM2 is too expensive and now looking at reducing the price …
I used to get the 3 ply for slightly more than rm0.2
Per PC. Even at rm0.8 it is already more than 3x the price prior to the crises. The impact of the increase to rm2 will onlwill only lead to people recycling it or don’t wear the face mast wear at all.
Jack Ma and the Chinese Govt have donated to many nation’s.
These are specifically for the front line warriors at highest risk.
Shows China is able and ready to supply.
Proves China’s manufacturing prowess is back on track.
Mask now is a seller’s market.
The whole world views mask in a different light.
The market for mask has expanded.
Increase in price is inevitable with so many new buyers.
Malaysian ringgit is weak.
If your import quantity is small, manufacturers don’t entertain you.
Raw material price don’t remain static.
Passengers planes becomes cargo planes
Which sane importer imports when Govt fix price at a level not in line with prevailing market price that can lead to financial loss.
Politics and business tho’ interwined have different objectives.
” price of face masks needed to be increased due to higher cost of production materials. He said – “By allowing face masks to be sold at RM2, we hope to encourage local manufacturers to produce more.” ”
Can’t find a more moronic statement!
If it is going to cost more to produce item in Malaysia, then it is wiser to make the Chinese rich by importing them from China.
Even after a Proton-like import barrier and a nice tax, Chinese masks are still going to be much cheaper to buy, and most likely of much better quality too.
Further, there are plenty of people who have more faith in foreign goods, including Chinese ones, than local goods.
Even with the local made Protons many have no choice but to buy, it was a cursed car until the Chinese took controlling share of the company.
Given a bit more money, most Malaysians would spend more to get foreign produced goods, I have to say that’s wise as local made goods are more than often truly shoddy.
Two-layer masks are not adequate for bare minimal protection against inhaling or giving the virus. A three-layer one is still not as good as a N95 mask.
Sure, a N95 mask costs very much more, some can’t afford it, but the other two, especially the two-layer mask is false security – maybe wearing a few underpants on the head is better, wash them first!
That said, and whatever mask, we can expect the bungling morons in gomen to naturally fcuk up anything to do with any mask…
Btw, about three weeks or so ago, I was given a mask by a DAP MP now in isolation in hospital after (of all things) posing himself for a photo with the Snake Pharaoh!
The MP is a doctor too, though he’s non-practising. So it was a case of a doctor with a doctor! So much for any understanding of a health issue – I mean the virus, not mental issue!
The mask is a piece of crap.
All the same, if doctor is reading this, I am shocked you posed with that doctor, haven’t you thought about saving face, you lose your face, you can even lose your life!
But I do wish you will get well soon. We can meet up and you can give me a rundown on why you were so hard up to have a photo taken with the old zombie…