JIHAD is a meritorious struggle or effort. Therefore, jihad means to strive to the utmost for the achievement of a purpose.

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There is jihad against oneself (purification), against Satan and Satanic designs and jihad against the enemy of freedom of conscience.

The majority of jihads are political wars and that is not jihad.

In June, Malaysia established a Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation (STF), determined to keep inflation and food prices at low rates.

Its main role is to gather information from ministries, agencies and the public to formulate strategies and coordinate actions to resolve issues relating to inflation. It will also continue to monitor and implement drastic measures to avoid uncontrolled increases in inflation.

The target is to control inflation at 3% and for food items around 5 - 6%. But, the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 3.4% year-on-year surpassing average inflation from January 2011 to June 2022 by 1.9% and food inflation increased by 6.1%.

The target is not challenging enough for this high-powered STF. The chairman gave a month to prepare a comprehensive action plan so that the STF has a more robust framework to take action.

But we already have the National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) established in 2018 and chaired by the PM to address issues and challenges related to the cost of living in Malaysia. The secretariat is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA).

As of December 2019, there were 7 working groups/clusters on food, health, education, housing, transportation, utilities and e-Commerce.

Why do we need the STF to submit its reports and findings to the Cabinet and Naccol?

In August, the PM said the STF is beginning to show positive results but at the same time the government would be spending some RM80 billion on subsidies, historically the highest amid increasing national debt.

Gazetting the maximum retail price for cooking oil is not a drastic measure since MDTCA can easily do it.

The prices of chicken and cooking oil were reduced and electricity tariffs were not increased but prices of ‘nasi bungkus’ have not reduced. What has the STF done against profiteering?

Having a proper website to communicate what has been done and plans for the next few months would help.

What we need is a team of honest captains of industry, economic experts, technocrats from BNM and consumer groups to assist Naccol to form a more comprehensive framework of action.

The establishment of the STF must make logical and economic sense and able to make quick decisions for it to be deemed useful.

The BNM Monetary Policy Statement issued last week stated, “In our role of promoting monetary stability, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) seeks to implement a monetary policy that maintains a low and predictable pace of increase in the general level of prices of goods and services, taking into consideration economic developments and outlook. Ultimately, the aim is to promote monetary stability that is conducive to the sustainable growth of the Malaysian economy”.

BNM is the expert and will tackle the issue holistically which I doubt the STF has the capability or the competency.

To contain inflation, both fiscal and monetary policies have to come into play. BNM forecasts inflation to be in the upper end of 2.0% - 3.0% but the STF target is higher, at 3.0%!

Inflation is partly contained by price controls, fuel subsidies and the prevailing spare capacity in the economy but what will happen when subsidy rationalisation kicks in next year?

Malaysians cannot afford to give space to the STF to resolve issues because we need quick decisions and actions on a pressing matter. 

Since inflation currently is mostly imported, do we fight or tame it?

If the STF wants to continue its jihad, let us change it to a jihad against corruption, power abuse and CBT? – September 13, 2022.

What say you?

Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.