20 sen for plastic bag in Selangor: Ministry not involved

The 20 sen for a plastic bag charged on shoppers in Selangor from Jan 1, has nothing to do with the Urban Wellbeing, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry as the directive was issued by the state government.

Its minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said he had received many phone calls and SMS texts from consumers blaming the federal government, particularly his ministry, for the move.

"The people are confused to the extent of accusing the federal government of having no money that it has to sell plastic bags at 20 sen each.

"This implementation is under the jurisdiction of the Selangor state government and they did not even refer the matter to us," he told reporters after visiting the Seri Nipah Apartments in Taman Pinggiran USJ, Subang Jaya, near here, today.

Noh was responding to the arising confusion from the implementation of the Selangor "No Plastic Bag" campaign which was launched by the state government on Dec 22, 2016.

State Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman, Elizabeth Wong had reportedly said that in line with the campaign, 20 sen would be charged on consumers for a plastic bag when shopping, effective Jan 1, 2017 while at the same time, the Selangor government also banned the use of plastic bags.

Wong said that previously, the campaign was restricted to Saturdays but it was then extended for seven days of the week.

Noh slammed the state government for the 20-sen charge on a plastic bag while at the same time, banning the use of plastic bags.

"They say people cannot use plastic bags but why they can sell (the plastic bags) then? Who gets the 20 sen? I'm wondering.

"If they want to enforce the ban on using plastic bags, then they don't have to sell plastic bags...if they want to implement a law, do it properly, don't cause problems to the people," he said.

Noh said the people of Selangor should not misunderstand, as although the local authorities came under the purview of the ministry, in Selangor the local authorities had their own power.

"Since helming the ministry, I've noticed that if it's a different government (opposition-held states), the 'rakyat' will be on the losing end...I want to reprimand but I don't have the full power to do so," he said. - BERNAMA