PETALING JAYA: Turkey is a must for Christmas dinner and should by right be listed as a price-controlled item, said DAP lawmaker Teresa Kok.
“Turkey is the traditional Christmas dinner menu for many Christian families.
“It is therefore insensitive and inconsiderate on the part of the government not to place turkey in the list of price-controlled items,” she said in a statement today.
The MP for Seputeh also asked that Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Hamzah Zainuddin give due consideration to her request as the excuses provided by his Ministry in the past could not be accepted.
“Last year, then Minister Hasan Malek said turkey was not in the list of items under the festive price control scheme due to some technical problems.”
She said that due to this omission, there was a shortage of turkey last year. She noted however that once again, turkey had been left out of the list, with the reason of “poor demand and supply” being cited by Hamzah.
Asking for the minister’s clarification on what exactly he meant by this, Kok also asked, “What are the causes? Will there be sufficient supply this year? Have last year’s so called technical problems been solved?”
She also took the ministry to task, demanding Hamzah do his best to address the issue immediately.