High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/11/nation/4290529&sec=nation

Saturday July 11, 2009

High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The price of cooking oil in the interior highlands of Bario in northern Sarawak has skyrocketed to almost RM15 per kg, compared to between RM6 and RM6.50 in urban areas here.

It was sold at about RM8 to RM10 per kg in Bario last year.

Rural folk in the highland regions, who are mostly living below the poverty line, find it hard to grasp the situation.

The Star met yesterday with a group of Penans from Pa’tih and Long Selaan – remote villages in the Bario highlands – who are struggling with the high costs of consumer products.

Housewife Rose Melai, who came to Miri to seek medical help for her daughter, said: “My husband is a padi planter. I have no job. We have four school-going children.

“Our family is already paying a lot for diesel fuel (RM8 per litre in Bario) just to operate our generators.”

Now, she has to fork out even more just to buy cooking oil every month.

“In some of our settlements, traders sell one kg of cooking oil at RM12. In places upstream of Pa’tih, the price can be RM15 per kg.”

She questioned why the prices always went up “all the time” in Bario.

“I heard from the people living in Miri that the Government had not announced any increase in cooking oil price. Why did it go up in Bario?” she asked.

Pa’tih is located two days by foot from Bario Village; Bario is 480km from Miri city.

Pangai Lusang, a Penan farmer from Long Selaan, said even sugar which was priced at RM5 per kg was costly.

“Businessmen always say the high prices are due to high transportation costs. But from what I know, the Government had not increased the price of diesel (since last year),” he said.

An enforcement officer from the Miri Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Department, when contacted, said the transportation arrangements to send goods into the interior from urban cities and Sarawak towns was not under the ministry’s jurisdiction.

“It is the Resident’s Office and the respective wakil rakyat who are handling the issue concerning transportation.

“They are supposed to appoint transporters who can give reasonable charges.”

He said the authorities were supposed to subsidise transportation costs so that the prices of goods sent to the interior would be on par with those sold in urban areas.

“However, up to now, these transportation issues have not been sorted out as yet,” he said.