'It's expected that opposition will play up price hike'

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today he has expected that the opposition will played up the fuel hike issue.

“Do I expect the opposition to go to town? What kind of question is this? Of course, they will go to town,” he said during a press conference after chairing a sports meeting.

Khairy said the government has to explain that the people's welfare will still be taken care off despite the increase in fuel prices and the government ensure that prices of goods remain reasonable.

Beside cutting subsidies, Khairy said the government needs to enhance its efforts to save costs in its daily expenditure, as part of measures to strengthen the government’s fiscal position.

“We need to show and prove to the people that we in the government are in cost-saving mode,” he said.

“(As for me,) when I took over the ministry three months ago, I had directed the secretary-general to reduce costs,” he said.

“We want to make sure that the effort to reduce the fiscal deficit not only done through cutting subsidies, but also through reducing expenditure and operating costs,” he said.

“I am quite happy with what the secretary-general has done. If you look at our budget, we were able to save a lot of operating costs,” he said.

Some of the activities were done in the ministry’s premises rather than at hotels, he said, adding that the ministry will continue such efforts, including good procurement practices.

When asked if the overspending in the last general election had caused the fuel hike as claimed by Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), Khairy dismissed it by simply replying that he has no knowledge of PSM’s allegation.

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