Wee: I refuse to be a pawn in the eggs issue
NEW STRAITS TIMES
KUALA LUMPUR: Ayer Hitam member of parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong today spoke out against a threat levelled at him following his statement on the import of eggs from India in Dewan Rakyat last month.
During his debate at the committee level for the 2023 Supply Bill, Wee revealed that he received a call from an individual named Deepak and claiming to be from J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, to retract his statement on the issue.
Wee added that the individual also claimed that the company had discussed with the Prime Minister's Department for the case to be settled outside of court.
"I was told to correct my statement in Parliament. What is this? I did not mention any companies or names, so why am I receiving such threats?
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"I am merely the people's representative regarding the issue, but this action has belittled the parliamentary institution.
"I refuse to be a pawn and I will not bow down to pressure and retract my statements on the issue," he said.
He added that he had a fruitful discussion with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during MCA's Chinese New Year open house on the long-standing issue.
"I told the prime minister that I did not agree with importing eggs and we need to find a solution to this.
"Hence, this (out-of-court settlement) is not an instruction from the prime minister, but people are abusing his name and it has become a disease in this case. This should not happen and needs to be investigated."
At the same time, Datuk R. Ramanan (Pakatan Harapan-Sungai Buloh) said the threats made against Wee were a form of intimidation towards an MP.
"Not only this is an unethical action, but it is also a form of intimidation. If we continue to let the public use the the name of the prime minister or the department as an excuse, they will continue to abuse it in the long run."
Previously, Wee had brought three eggs to the August House – an egg from India, an omega egg and a local egg – to show the differences in each egg's sizes and pricing.
He also urged the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry to focus on addressing the poor supply of domestic eggs instead of importing eggs from India and other countries to address domestic needs.
The following week, he received a lawyer's letter from the importers of eggs from India for raising the issue.
Meanwhile, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said the local company, J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, was the only Malaysian company granted the award to import eggs from the country.
He said the government would import eggs from India until local supplies stabilise.
