Fruit Is Madani S New Political Weapon

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Once upon a time, the imported car parked on the driveway was an indicator of wealth, but who would have thought that in 2025, the avocado in our fruit bowl would show that you were rich?
Interestingly, fruit has become the latest political weapon to differentiate between the “haves” and “have-nots”, to drive through the Madani government’s ill-thought-out policies, and to penalise the rakyat for the poor financial management practices of successive administrations.
Are local farmers, wholesalers, and the general population being punished for the government’s failed policies?
It is all very well to claim that the economy is doing great, that foreign investors are “beating a path to our door”, that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, on his return from overseas, has secured, albeit only on paper, billions of ringgit worth of investments.
Would he or his ministers care to explain why the average Malaysian remains unconvinced?
On June 14, the Finance Ministry decided that a five percent sales and service tax (SST) on imported fruits would be imposed and take effect next Tuesday (July 1).
According to the ministry’s Treasury secretary-general, Johan Mahmood Merican, Malaysian consumers would not suffer much hardship as they would have ample choice from locally grown produce, including bananas, pineapples, and high-quality melons from states like Terengganu and Kedah.
Why fruit? Did Johan and his team consult the general public and consumer rights groups?
The SST will widen the existing wealth gap between the poor and the rich. Denying the poor and making imported fruit easily available only for the rich is exploitation. Fruit is defining social class and is used for behaviour control.
Malaysians are very enterprising, and the risk-takers will start a roaring trade in fruit on the black market.
Fruit tax u-turn exposes policy gaps
After the rakyat’s backlash against the five percent SST on imported fruit, oranges and apples will be excluded. Apparently, government U-turns can be forced if enough protests are held to show the rakyat’s anger. This also shows that perhaps the policy was not properly thought through.
A hint about this lack of prior consultation was given by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi when he said that “fruits like apples and oranges aren’t grown locally”.
We could have told the policymakers that!
Are they unaware of which fruits are grown locally, which ones are temperate fruits, and which local fruits are seasonal? Was the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) consulted?
Did the Finance Ministry consider supply and demand? If more Malaysians bought more local fruit as it is more affordable than imported ones, demand may increase, the price may rise, and can farmers cope with increased demand, or will the availability of local fruits be limited?
How often do ministers, politicians, and policymakers set foot in the wet markets of towns and cities to see what traders and consumers have to say about the cost of living crisis, and about the food items that are on sale?
The trader in the wet market will claim that business is slow, while the housewife will moan about the high cost of food items.
Local fruit is not exactly cheap because of the rising cost of transportation, storage, pesticides, fertiliser, irrigation, and labour.
It is not just temperate fruits that are imported. So too are tropical fruits like bananas, papayas, and pineapples.
Price is not the only consideration because quality is also important. Some people prefer to buy imported tropical fruits because the quality of such fruits is better. For example, imported limes are larger, more juicy, and not as shrivelled as the local variety. Is quality control only practised by fruit exporters?
Fruit tax without farms won’t work
If the SST was designed to reduce our dependence on imported fruit and address our food security problems, what is lacking appears to be joined-up thinking in our decision-makers.
Land which was cultivated by generations of farmers in Kanthan and Tambun has been seized by state development corporations or developers. Do the authorities think that cultivation of fruit is just a case of levelling the ground, planting fruit seeds, then waiting for the harvest?
Kanthan farmers, December 2023The suitability of the soil, the availability of land, the land contours, access to irrigation, accessibility to markets, and the ease of hiring workers are all important considerations. The shortsightedness of local authorities in seizing established farmland will contribute to higher fruit prices.
How effective is the Madani administration in attracting young adults to the world of agriculture? Our farmers are elderly, and when they fall ill or die, will the younger generation continue their fathers’ work?
Farming is seen as back-breaking, with small profits. How attractive are the business opportunities, government grants, and incentives to encourage young farmers? Will it invest in research to improve fruit yields and prevent disease?
The government’s priority for the cultivation of cash crops prompted many kampung dwellers, who once owned fruit orchards, to chop down their fruit trees and replace them with palm oil.
If the government is serious about reducing our dependency on fruit imports, then make more land available for the cultivation of fruit/food crops, instead of the ridiculous knee-jerk reaction of taxing an already oppressed rakyat. - Mkini
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, X.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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