So it wasn't a boycott after all. This is according to a group of four NGOs and unions which had on Dec 23 urged consumers to "boycott" chicken to protest against high prices.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), civil service union Cuepacs, Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) and the Malaysian Youth Council (MYC) are dropping the word "boycott" from their campaign after a meeting with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.

"Both parties have resolved the 'boycott' issue and other differences between them at the meeting," MTUC president Senator Zainal Rampak told reporters at a press conference this morning.

He announced that the campaign would now be known as the "Fair Price Demand Action".

Fomca president Hamdan Adnan told malaysiakini that the meeting with Muhyiddin was to explain to the minister that there was never a call for a boycott.

The group claimed that they did not use the word "boycott" at all and blame the media for allegedly misreporting the whole issue. "We never called it a boycott. The media has misinterpreted it," said Hamdan.

Hamdan explained that they did not advice the consumers to stop buying chicken completely.

"We never told consumers to completely stop buying chicken. We urged them to buy chicken at the price of RM5.40 per kg and below. But if it was sold above RM5.40 then they should not buy it and instead look for alternative meat," he said.

He said that such consumer action would encourage traders to bring prices down.