Annuar asks ministries involved in 'Keluarga Malaysia' sales to intensify programme

KUALA LUMPUR: Ministries involved in the 'Jualan Murah Keluarga Malaysia' programme should quickly increase the number of premises offering goods at a discount through their agencies, said Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

The chairman of the Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation said the ministries involved were the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI), Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP), Federal Territories Ministry, Rural Development Ministry and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry.

According to Annuar, who is Communications and Multimedia Minister, 127 sales locations were set up in the first week of the programme, a far cry from the target of 639 locations within state assembly constituencies throughout the country.

"As five different ministries are involved in this implementation, reports show that many locations have yet to start business or conduct the Keluarga Malaysia sales service.

"These ministries are required to make weekly reports to the committee (task force) to ensure the objective of having sales at all 639 premises (locations) is realised soon," he told a press conference after chairing a meeting of the task force here today.

Annuar said he appreciated the difficulties faced by these ministries, including in terms of logistics and budget, as some of them were directly involved in this programme for the first time.

"So, we are giving them a suitable period, but I hope we can go full swing by the end of September. We are not only aiming for 639 (locations) but also hoping for a weekly frequency at 639," he said.

Annuar said the implementation of the programme was projected to involve a huge expenditure of RM80 million over a period of four months.

"And once it is in full swing, we will roll out online sales in places with delivery service and e-commerce facilities. We will pump another RM200 million into the system so that more people can get to buy goods at lower prices," he said.

Annuar said the task force hoped that the online sales service could be rolled out in September.

He said the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) would prepare a framework on the implementation of e-commerce sales for the task force next week.

"We are registering e-commerce platform operators for the online sales, the third initiative after the 'Jualan Murah Keluarga Malaysia' and sales through cooperatives network.

"We know there is an increasing number of local e-commerce platforms and we want to encourage all to participate. They can contact MDEC from now to register themselves for this programme," he added.

Annuar said the details of this programme might be announced next week.

He also encouraged the people to buy local products as a way to help check inflation.

"We know inflation cannot be eradicated totally, but our government has taken measures to control it and would continue to keep the inflation rate relatively low," he said.

-- BERNAMA