Jacob George, who heads the Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam (Cassa), suggested the establishment of a committee of government officials and consumerists to study the market, monitor prices and enforce controls.

He said the panel should be chaired by the deputy prime minister to give it bite.

George was among the people who recommended the weekly fuel pricing system to the Najib administration. The domestic trade ministry designed the system in consultation with Cassa.

He told FMT a similar formula for the pricing of essential goods would, apart from ensuring a fair market, keep consumers informed of price changes and give them an understanding of the reasons behind such changes.

For example, he said, the price of fish could go up in bad weather and the public could learn of this from information given by the proposed panel.

Suppliers and retailers could not raise prices at whim because of the monitoring done by the panel, he added.

The weekly fuel pricing system came into effect again last Friday after being abandoned when Pakatan Harapan came to power last May.

It was supposed to have taken effect on Jan 1 but was put on hold to accommodate a request by the Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) for a meeting with the prime minister to air their grouses.

The meeting was held on Jan 1 itself and Putrajaya has since agreed to increase the petrol dealers’ margin to 15 sen per litre for petrol and 10 sen per litre for diesel.

George said the feedback received by Cassa indicated that most consumers in the country welcomed the re-introduction of the weekly pricing.