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| Monday, April 10, 2006 |
| ‘Sugar ban’ ‘notice not up, Singaporeans unaware of ruling |
TheStar
By FARIK ZOLKEPLI
JOHOR BARU: It was sweet sorrow at the Causeway checkpoint. Singaporeans who bought sugar here were stopped from taking it home.
“Is there a ban?” they asked Customs officers who confiscated their packets of sugar.
The Singaporeans said there were no signboard to tell them they could not bring along the item when they travel back home across the Causeway.
Sugar costs RM1.40 per kilo in Malaysia while in Singapore the same amount is sold at between S$1.05(RM2.37) and S$1.60(RM3.60).
The hordes of Singaporeans who come here usually put sugar on their shopping list.
Motorist Jeremy Ng, who regularly shops and plays golf here, said he was not aware of the sugar ruling, as there were no notice at the checkpoint about the matter.
“I don’t know that we are not supposed to take sugar out of Malaysia,” he said, adding that he often shops for groceries in Johor though not necessarily for sugar.
Technician Johari Mohd said he had heard something about a ban but brushed it aside as he thought it was just “empty talk.”
“I did not pay much attention to it, especially when there was no signage at the checkpoint when you enter or exit the causeway,” he said.
“I always buy sugar here as it is considerably cheaper.
“Now, I have to cross it out from my grocery list,” said Johari, 28.
Another Singaporean, who only wished to be known as Kit, said he was stopped at the checkpoint on Saturday as he was sorting out several packets of sugar.
“I did not know about the ruling and there was no signage to inform me about the ban,” he said, adding that he buys about 10kg of sugar from Johor each week.
Asked about the matter, state Customs director Sarmin Md Hussin said the department would put up the signage before April 21, when those who bring sugar out of the country would be fined.
On Friday, Customs director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid announced that from April 21, those caught bringing out sugar from the country would be fined RM100 per kilo.
He said that at the moment there would be no fines, just seizures, to give people time to adjust to the new ruling.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said the Government was stepping up enforcement against those hoarding sugar and raising the price of the controlled item. |
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