This advice came from Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma) President Noorul Hassan Saul Hameed, who said consumers had their rights and certainly could make their own decisions.

He was also not happy with the statement by PSM secretary-general Sivarajan Arumugan who did not believe the promise made by Noorul Hassan yesterday that his Presma members would not increase the price of their roti canai.

This followed a report in The Star that the RM8.25 subsidy for the 25kg bag of flour would be removed from today, resulting in the price of a bag skyrocketing to RM42 from the present price of RM33.75. The report stated that such a bag could be used to make 340 roti canai.

The price of 1kg bags of flour, usually bought by ordinary consumers, is not affected.

Sivarajan said consumers should not be fooled by any promise not to raise prices as similar pledges were given previously when the government increased prices of raw materials.

“You don’t believe our roti canai prices will remain the same?

“Open your own shop and experience how difficult it is to do business,” Noorul Hassan said.

He said Sivarajan’s statement was only a populist statement.

“For us it’s simple. We suggest PSM themselves go into business so that they’ll know how it is.

“We don’t want to fight, but restaurant owners have sacrificed so much to ensure the prices set are reasonable,” he told FMT.