Kota Kinabalu: The Borneo Advocacy for Social Empowerment (BASE) urged the government to address rising logistics costs instead of placing responsibility solely on traders following the removal of chicken and egg subsidies and price controls.
BASE Chairman Pritchard Gumbaris said while calls for traders to maintain reasonable prices were welcomed, appeals alone would not ease the growing cost-of-living pressure faced by Sabahans.
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He said the bigger issue was the rising cost of doing business, particularly transportation and logistics expenses, which had increased across the supply chain.
“Rising prices are not driven by traders alone. They are largely the result of higher transportation and logistics expenses,” he said.
BASE acknowledged the government’s efforts to curb diesel smuggling and subsidy leakages through the Subsidised Diesel Control System (SKDS), but said many legitimate logistics operators and small businesses continued to face higher operating costs, approval delays and difficulties accessing subsidies.
Industry feedback suggested transportation costs had risen by an estimated 8 to 20 per cent following SKDS implementation, depending on operations and delivery routes.
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Pritchard said the impact extended beyond chicken and eggs, affecting essential goods including vegetables, seafood, meat, rice, cooking oil, household supplies and construction materials.
“It is unrealistic to expect businesses to absorb these additional costs indefinitely. The issue affects almost every essential commodity that depends on an efficient transport network,” he said.
BASE also supported concerns raised by transportation industry representative Alvin Tan regarding challenges faced by logistics operators under the current SKDS framework.
The association stressed that Sabah’s geographical conditions required policies tailored to local realities, given its greater distances, higher logistics costs and heavy reliance on road transportation.
The impact was particularly visible in the movement of fresh produce from Kundasang, seafood from Sandakan and Tawau, agricultural products from the Interior, and essential goods supplied to districts such as Keningau, Tenom, Ranau and Kota Marudu.
BASE said many Sabah households were already under pressure as wages remained stagnant while food, transport, utilities and other daily expenses continued to rise.
The association called on the Federal Government to review SKDS implementation in Sabah by simplifying subsidy approvals, expanding eligibility where appropriate and maintaining closer engagement with transport operators and industry stakeholders.
It also proposed targeted freight assistance or transportation support to help reduce logistics costs and ease inflationary pressures on essential goods.
“Good governance is measured not by reminders to traders, but by whether government policies genuinely reduce the burden on the rakyat instead of unintentionally increasing it,” Pritchard said.
He added that while firm action against diesel smuggling and subsidy abuse was necessary, legitimate businesses should not become unintended casualties of policy changes.
“A policy can only be considered successful when it targets abuse while protecting legitimate industries and safeguarding the welfare of ordinary Malaysians,” he said.
