The government will intensify enforcement at border areas and smuggling hotspots nationwide, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, to curb fuel leakages<\/p>\n
KOTA KINABALU:\u00a0Strengthening enforcement at border areas and hotspots nationwide, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, is a key focus of the inter-agency\u00a0steering committee to curb leakages and smuggling (JTPAP) of controlled goods, said Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.<\/p>\n
He said the strengthened monitoring of border areas and hotspots in Sabah and Sarawak takes into account the bulk diesel subsidy, as the wide disparity between subsidised, pump, and market prices heightens the risk of leakages and smuggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe activation of this committee follows an increased risk of leakages and smuggling of controlled goods, especially diesel and petrol, arising from the West Asia conflict, which has pushed up global oil prices. The risk in Malaysia exists because retail diesel and petrol prices at pumps remain far below market rates, despite adjustments made for March 12-18.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoreover, the risk of leakages and smuggling is particularly high in Sabah and Sarawak because the bulk diesel subsidy continues. In these states, diesel is sold at RM2.15 per litre, compared with RM3.92 per litre in Peninsular Malaysia, while the current Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) market price is RM4.30 per litre.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means people in Sabah and Sarawak are buying diesel at less than half its actual cost,\u201d he told a press conference\u00a0at the Sentuhan Kasih, Jualan Rahmah MADANI\u00a0and consumer advocacy programme here today.<\/p>\n
The committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof,\u00a0was reactivated on Wednesday to develop a more integrated approach to curbing smuggling risks following the West Asia conflict.<\/p>\n
Armizan said the cost of the government\u2019s diesel subsidy could rise significantly if domestic fuel diversion and cross-border smuggling are not adequately addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe financial impact of the existing bulk diesel subsidy in Sabah and Sarawak is already substantial. In 2025, the government\u2019s subsidy for these two states reached RM2 billion, namely\u00a0RM924 million for Sabah and RM1.08 billion for Sarawak. Based on the same usage levels\u00a0and current market prices, the subsidy liability could rise to RM4.6 billion in 2026,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In view of uncertainties from the West Asia conflict and global oil prices, he said one of the Cabinet\u2019s immediate interventions is to strengthen enforcement across all relevant agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnforcement operations will be carried out under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 (Act 122) and the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government will intensify enforcement at border areas and smuggling hotspots nationwide, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-329788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}