KUDOS to the Star for beating me to the story that READ : claims by a Tik Tokker cum streamer of unscrupulous traders switching labels on white rice from Super Special Local (SST) to Super Special Import (SSI) to get a quick profit are false.
OBVIOUSLY, this was a high budget job in terms if boosting on social media, back ground layout of the studio sets, plus travel expenses to hood wink the entire nation.
IT almost worked, with Agriculture Minister, Mat Sabu, apart from going down to the ground, had also sent a very experienced team to investigate the matter.
SOON, the minister discovered that there was not a shred off proof to back up the story , and attempted to lay a trap himself by urging the relevant news spreader READ ; to make a formal report, which for some strange reason the well taken care conspirst refused to do until now.
WELL, I cannot in good conscious accuse either Bernas or its owner Syed Mokthar of financing this caper, but I am at liberty to say that who ever funded this blitz, was doing both Bernas and Syed Mokthar a big favour.
WHY is that so, you may ask? For one. READ : As early as June this year, paddy farmers had begun publicly expressing their concern had missed one cycle of the planting season this year.
THE planting seasons, normally starts in April, which means Bernas would have been aware of what was in the horizon by as early as March 2023.
WE have to wonder now, what has BERNAS been doing from March 2023 to July 2023, to source for new cheaper rice markets abroad, as well to build up inventory, in order for Malaysian consumers not to be too much exposed to the spot market.
OR perhaps they did make some big purchases, and merely kept it aside, ahead of READ :36 per cent increase in retail rice price in Malaysia.
WHATEVER, the case might be, BERNAS which every year receives nearly RM600 million of tax payers money, should inform the Malaysian public, if they had expanded the pool of nations from which Bernas purchases rice.
OR if they had sat on thier fat backsides, after collecting the RM600 million cash from the government, with the knowledge, that steeper prices, equals to a testosterone like boost to BERNAS revenue and cash generated from business dynamics.
AND, why is this important for us to know? Well because READ : our farmers are not only being bashed to the ground by the weather,and wide spread paddy related diseases, even in the fields of Sekinchan,.
THEY are also being given a raw deal by Bernas and hit below the waisteline via very poor seed service by NAFAS, which is headed by Ismail Sabri's brother.
IF we don't stand up for our paddy farming brothers, regardless of their race, religion or creed, no one else will, not even the politicians, with the exception of Anwar Ibrahim, the number ten of Malaysia.
