Mamak! Why No Roti Canai Ah?

Malaysia is in the midst of a cooking oil crunch, which the government has blamed on panic buying and smuggling. Supermarket shelves in several states were stripped of cooking oil last week, resulting in restrictions imposed by the government to curb the shortage. Malaysia enforced a rationing of five kilogrammes of cooking oil per person per purchase.

When asked for his comments, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi requested for his notes from an aide and announced that Malaysia will increase the quota for subsidised cooking oil to overcome a nationwide shortage of the vital commodity.

"To overcome the problem a meeting to discuss the issue decided to sharply increase the quota for the production of…damn that Khairy I can’t read his writing… substitute…err…prostitute…no, subsidise cooking oil with immediate effect," he was quoted as saying.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal blamed the crisis on smugglers who cash in on subsidised Malaysian oil by moving it to neighbouring countries.

Abdullah said about 800 million ringgit (US$244 million) was spent annually on the cooking oil subsidy.

The shortage of cooking oil was also caused by strong demand following recent religious celebrations he said.

Abdullah said he expected the shortage to be resolved in the next few days, adding that there would not be any price hike.