BERSATU’S propaganda machinery is attacking Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the party aims to have its chief Muhyiddin Yassin return as prime minister, Najib Razak said.

“Main propaganda pages belonging to Bersatu-Perikatan Nasional, such as Otai, are starting to vehemently attack Ismail,” the former prime minister said in a Facebook post.

He said they used rising costs and inflation as reasons, but prices had peaked during Muhyiddin’s tenure as prime minister.

“What is more worrying is that the ministers in charge of economy, agriculture, finance, and plantation, who have an influence on prices of goods, especially food, are from the party that wants to topple Ismail,” he said, referring to Bersatu ministers in Ismail’s cabinet.

“They’ve attacked Ismail for the rise in prices but they are responsible for the policies that contributed to the price hike,” he said.

Najib added that he had previously proposed solutions to control the spiralling prices.

“Why did the ministers not consider that?” he asked.

In another post, Najib slammed Bersatu’s youth wing Armada, which claimed that prices went up after Barisan Nasional (BN) won the Malacca elections.

“Are they trying fool the people?” he asked.

“Prices went up even before Ismail became PM,” he said in defence of the Umno vice president.

He said the producer price index (PPI), which measures the average change in the price of goods and services, has been rising exponentially since January this year.

The Pekan MP said this is also why he has been warning since June that inflation will be a big problem in the coming months as the PPI continues to rise on the back of “unintelligent” policies by the PN government, and the lockdowns.

Najib also questioned major policy changes carried out by former prime minister Muhyiddin, which led to the price hikes and subsequent attacks against BN.

He also listed down the ministerial portfolios controlled by Bersatu to illustrate his point.

Among them are Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Mustapa Mohamed, Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Ronald Kiandee, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin and International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, who is a technocrat and does not have a party, was appointed by Muhyiddin and he retained his position in Ismail’s government.

“In fact, the domestic trade and consumer affairs minister from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (Alexander Nanta Linggi) is also the same person who was previously in the PN government,” he said.

“Why is the spiralling prices the fault of the ninth PM, Najib or Umno and BN for winning the Malacca elections?

“Wouldn’t abolishing the GST (goods and services tax) and replacing it with the SST (sales and services tax) reduce the prices of things?” he asked.

Earlier this week, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said the prices of vegetables in the market have gone up 200%.

Broccoli costs RM8/kg to RM20/kg, cauliflower (RM7/kg to RM16/kg) and sawi pendek (RM3/kg to RM9/kg).

Last week, Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Rosol Wahid told Parliament that CAP’s claims that prices had doubled were unfounded as enforcement officers had found no evidence to corroborate them. – November 30, 2021.