Do away with sugar incentive for sake of public health, says Dr Wee

Do away with sugar incentive for sake of public health, says Dr Wee

PETALING JAYA: Do the right thing and do away with sugar incentive policies for the sake of public health, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

“The Madani government claims sugar (intake) is dangerous. That’s the reason given for raising the tax on sweetened beverages on Jan 1, and implementing duties on pre-mixed drinks from March 1.

“But then it proceeded to reinstate the sugar incentive in November last year,” the Ayer Hitam MP said in a video posted on his Facebook page Friday (March 29).

Dr Wee said the Health Minister must speak out against any plans to reinstate sugar subsidies or similar incentives as they pose a danger to public health and are inconsistent with government policy.

Dr Wee, who is also MCA president, said bringing back such subsidies would also spike treatment costs borne by the Health Ministry in the future.

“I appeal to the Health Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad), who is learned in the latest medical knowledge, not to stay silent (on this issue),” he urged.

Dr Wee said former health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa had informed the Dewan Rakyat in November that 18.3% of adult Malaysians were diabetic with up to RM4.38bil spent on treatment yearly.

“The National Health Screening Initiative (NHSI) 2023 found that 53.5% of those screened were ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ with 17.1% of them having high blood glucose levels,” he noted.

Dr Wee added that Socso statistics showed that the number of diabetic patients rose from 9% in 2013 to 19.9% last year.

“Prevention before cure. The government must be committed and consistent in preventing diabetes through policies that reduce sugar intake among the people,” he said.

“This is for the good of us all. Take care of (our) health, reduce sugar, and most importantly, no more subsidies or incentives for sugar production!”

Dr Wee also pointed out that the government had been inconsistent with its sugar policies, including among several ministers serving in the same Cabinet.

“In October, when there was no sugar incentive, PMX (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) said there was a sugar subsidy but he wanted to abolish it due to the health factor,” he said.

“In November, the sugar subsidy was returned as an incentive at the rate of RM1 per kilogramme incurring a RM42mil monthly cost or RM504mil yearly.

“In December, the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister denied the existence of a sugar subsidy.

“And finally in March, the Finance Minister II admitted to Parliament that a sugar subsidy had been reinstated from November but called it an incentive payment instead,” he said.