“The government should bear full responsibility if the prices are not brought down by Dec 9, a date the minister set.

“The government needs to act now to reduce the prices as not only the B40 families are suffering but also those in M40,” he said in a press statement today.

The Bagan MP also shared how his constituents have complained to him about their inability to cope with the steep hike in prices of basic necessities when their wages remained stagnant.

“Never before have Malaysians seen such high prices for daily necessities such as eggs, chicken, bread, vegetables and even ice cubes.

“The government must be reminded that these daily necessities are not luxury goods.

“However, the prices are now at luxury levels.

“Many in the M40 group are also finding it hard to make ends meet,” said the former finance minister.

Lim said if this situation was not corrected or resolved soon, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob risked ending up a failure like his predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin.

Earlier last week, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) urged the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry and the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority(FAMA) to lower the prices of vegetables, which had gone up by 200% in the last two weeks.

CAP president Mohideen Abdul Kader said several retailers were concerned that the price of vegetables may continue to rise in coming weeks.

“CAP calls for the enforcement division of the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry to investigate the price increases as average income earners will be badly affected by the escalating prices.

“The ministry must also crack down on traders who hike their prices excessively and violate the Anti-Profiteering Act 2010,” he said.