Street demonstrations not the solution to rising living costs, says Johor sultan
JOHOR BAHRU: Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar said street protests are not the solution to the problem of rising costs of living in Malaysia.
He was responding to the proposal by an opposition politician who urged the public to consider gathering in the streets of Kuala Lumpur to express their frustration.
“This is not a responsible way to find a solution to the problem,” the ruler said in a statement by the Royal Press Office on Friday (Jun 24).
Sultan Ibrahim stressed that street protests would not achieve anything except creating chaos and destruction and leaving a black mark on the country’s history.
“Have we not learned enough from the bloody street protests of the past? Have they forgotten the riots of 1969, also more recently, the Bersih riots?” he was quoted as saying.
“Protesting on the streets is not the Malaysian way ... there will be no winners when this happens. There will only be losers, and who knows how long it will take for scars to heal.”
Malaysian media reported Johor Democratic Action Party vice-chief Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali as saying on Wednesday that the public assembling in large numbers in the capital would send a signal of their frustrations to the ruling government.
He said the prices of foods are rising exponentially and the government is slow to act.
The opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition also demanded the government to announce a comprehensive plan on managing the rising costs, adding that it would call for a mass mobilisation to voice the people’s anger.
The Johor ruler said that street demonstrations will also adversely affect the economy, scare investors away and set the country further back in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Don’t go down this road … our growth must be carefully nurtured through mature dialogue, not demonstrations that risk public safety and national security,” he said, according to the press office’s statement.
Malaysia will remove ceiling price controls for chicken and chicken eggs from Jul 1. Subsidies for bottled cooking oil will also be lifted, while 1kg packets will continue to be subsidised.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob unveiled an additional financial assistance totalling RM630 million (US$143 million) to help the bottom 40 per cent households cope with the rising costs of living.
Eligible households, senior citizens and single individuals will receive RM100 or RM50 of cash from Jun 27.
However, opposition leaders have criticised the financial aid as insufficient.
