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Februari 6, 2022 @ 4:38pm
KUALA LUMPUR: Gabungan Persatuan-Persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA) mencadangkan kerajaan menghapuskan permit import (AP) terutama bagi barangan makanan dalam usaha mengawal kenaikan harga.

Presidennya, Prof Datuk Dr N Marimuthu, berkata penghapusan AP dapat mengelak monopoli kerana hanya peniaga atau pengusaha yang mempunyai AP boleh membawa masuk sesuatu barangan dan mengawal harganya.

"Langkah menghapuskan AP akan memberi peluang ramai peniaga menjual lebih banyak barangan dan mengelak monopoli, sekali gus membendung isu kenaikan harga," katanya kepada BH, hari ini.

Semalam, Presiden Persekutuan Pekilang-pekilang Malaysia (FMM), Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai, menerusi sebuah portal berita meminta pengguna bersiap sedia bagi menghadapi kenaikan harga sehingga 10 peratus jika kos makanan dan barangan bukan makanan tidak terkawal.

Tinjauan FMM pada Disember tahun lalu berkenaan impak kenaikan harga bagi barangan seperti roti, telur, lampin dan sabun pakaian mendapati, sebahagian besar responden bercadang menyalurkan kos kepada pengguna melainkan ada tindakan bagi membendung kenaikan harga.

Marimuthu berkata, kerajaan perlu mempunyai pelan jangka panjang berkenaan isu harga barangan.

Ketika ini, katanya, kerajaan hanya mengambil tindakan jika wujud aduan.

Sebagai contoh, katanya, tindakan kerajaan ketika ini ialah susulan berlaku kekurangan bekalan minyak masak paket dan telur.

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February 6, 2022 1:02 PM
PETALING JAYA: A consumer group has asked a local bank to investigate the cause of the bank’s error that left many accounts frozen and customers in debt.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) president N Marimuthu said it was asking CIMB Bank Bhd to investigate if the “processing error” by the bank, which led to a number of customers receiving duplicate credits in their accounts, had any element of fraud.

“Fomca is asking CIMB to investigate if the error was an inside job.

“We understand that errors happen, but the source of such a massive error must be ascertained and action taken as it will affect the confidence in banks in the country,” he told FMT.
Marimuthu also said that since the error lay with CIMB, it should not penalise the affected customers.

Fomca said it was made aware that a few cases involved huge sums and the customers had withdrawn and already spent the money. This made the situation more complex for the bank to recover the funds.

Fomca also urged affected customers to be honest and not to capitalise on the error by taking money that is not theirs to begin with.

“If you know the money may not be yours, find out and clarify with the bank before spending it,” said Marimuthu.

On Thursday, Bank Negara Malaysia told FMT that CIMB was trying to recover the excess amounts credited to its customers.

The central bank said it had asked CIMB to ensure that whatever “recovery” measures it was taking would not burden the customers, especially those who were unaware that excess money had flowed into their accounts.

It also said an investigation into the incident was currently in progress and that it would take appropriate supervisory and enforcement action if warranted.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Two groups have slammed CIMB Bank Bhd (CIMB) for allegedly freezing 11,000 accounts without notifying the holders, especially so when the problem was caused by the bank’s own processing error.

The Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) and Agenda Reset Malaysia (ARM) warned that if the bank failed to address the problem in favour of the account holders, it would launch a campaign asking Malaysians to boycott the financial institution.

The problem arose after an error by CIMB left accounts frozen and their holders in debt due to “excess amounts” credited by the bank into their accounts.

At a joint press conference, ARM co-founder Ramalan Yunus told reporters that CIMB cannot just freeze their customers’ accounts without adequate notice.

He said if CIMB was not honest with its customers about what had actually happened, the NGOs would go on a drive to encourage all their customers to withdraw their money from the bank.

“We should boycott the bank and transfer all our money to other banks to teach it a lesson,” he said.

“If CIMB and the government keep mum on this issue, we will mobilise a civil disobedience movement.”

PPIM lead activist Nadzim Johan said CIMB needed to take responsibility for its errors.

“Whether due to the bank’s negligence or system failure, CIMB needs to take responsibility and right its wrongs,” he said.

“The central bank, too, needs to provide answers as it is the supervising body for all banks,” he said.

On Thursday, the central bank told FMT that CIMB was now trying to recover the excess amounts credited to their customers.

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PETALING JAYA: Unless the cost of food and non-food items are kept under control, consumers should prepare themselves for prices to go up to 10%, said Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Soh Thian Lai.

Based on a FMM survey in December on the impact of price increases on items like bread, eggs, diapers and detergents, Soh said unless drastic action was taken to contain the rise in prices, the bulk of the respondents planned to pass the costs to consumers.

“More than two-thirds of the companies we surveyed are expecting to pass the increase in costs of between 1-10% to consumers,” he said.

The rise in prices is due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, which has seen supply chain bottlenecks, higher logistics costs, soaring commodity prices, and a global energy and labour shortage.

“Fortunately, two-thirds of the respondents have taken proactive action to cut costs internally and switch to cheaper inputs where available,” he told FMT.

Multinationals in Malaysia had also begun substituting imports by buying local products, he added.

In January, the statistics department said the rise in transport costs and food prices drove inflation to a high of 3.2% in December – surpassing the average inflation rate of 1.9% for the period 2011 to 2021.

The rise was fuelled by a 7.5% rise in transport costs and a 3.2% increase in the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the inflation rate also attributed to rate increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.

“Any increase in prices for manufacturers would have a multiplier impact on the economy,” said Soh.

Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/02/05/expect-prices-to-go-up-by-10-fmm-warns-consumers/

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February 2, 2022 @ 10:11am
KUALA LUMPUR: Pengenaan surcaj 3.70 sen/kWj kepada semua pengguna komersial dan industri dijangka memberi tekanan kepada pemulihan syarikat terutama perusahaan kecil dan sederhana (PKS), demikian kata Presiden Kebangsaan Persatuan PKS Malaysia, Ding Hong Sing.

Beliau berkata, syarikat yang terbabit dalam pembuatan terutamanya yang menggunakan tenaga elektrik yang banyak akan berdepan peningkatan kos.

Katanya, dengan kos overhead dan operasi yang tinggi akan mendorong kepada peningkatan harga barang.

Jelasnya, lazimnya, kos elektrik bagi kilang mewakili sekitar 5-35 peratus bergantung kepada jenis produk yang dihasilkan.

"Jika kos elektrik meningkat 10 peratus, bagi mereka dengan bil elektrik bulanan sebanyak RM100,000 sebulan akan berdepan kenaikan sebanyak RM10,000, sementara bagi mereka dengan bil elektrik RM10,000 sebulan, mereka berdepan peningkatan RM1,000 sebulan," katanya.

Beliau berkata kepada BH bagi mengulas mengenai impak pengenaan surcaj elektrik 3.70 sen/kWj kepada pelanggan komersial dan industri.

Ding berkata, peningkatan kos elektrik sememangnya sukar kepada PKS di tengah-tengah pemulihan daripada impak negatif penularan pandemik COVID-19.

Beliau berkata, dengan mengambil kira kedudukan semasa, masa yang sesuai untuk menaikkan kadar elektrik adalah dalam tempoh satu hingga dua tahun, yang mana dilihat keadaan lebih stabil.

Katanya, pada masa ini, banyak industri masih lagi berdepan kesukaran dan peningkatan kos elektrik akan memberi tekanan.

Namun di sebalik itu, pengekalan kadar tarif elektrik bagi pengguna domestik di Semenanjung Malaysia untuk Tempoh Regulatori Ketiga (RP3) dapat membantu rakyat menampung kos sara hidup yang tinggi berikutan impak pandemik dan bencana banjir.

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Gabungan Persatuan-persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA) Saravanan Thambirajah berkata walaupun berlaku peningkatan kos bahan api ekoran kenaikan harga arang batu di pasaran sehingga mencecah US$200 satu tan, kerajaan melalui Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik (KWIE) akan menampung kos bahan api untuk tempoh Februari 2022 hingga Jun 2022.

Beliau berkata dengan subsidi ini, pengguna tidak perlu membayar kos yang tinggi untuk penggunaan tenaga elektrik.

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January 31, 2022 @ 2:57pm
KUALA LUMPUR: Gabungan Persatuan-persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA) mengingatkan peniaga supaya tidak mengambil kesempatan menaikkan harga barangan terlalu tinggi susulan kenaikan tarif elektrik sektor industri.

Timbalan Presiden FOMCA, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, berkata pengguna pula perlu memainkan peranan mengemukakan aduan terus kepada pihak berkuasa jika berlaku kenaikan harga barang yang terlalu tinggi.
"Tidak dinafikan pertimbangan perlu dibuat apabila tarif elektrik membabitkan syarikat besar serta industri terpaksa dinaikkan namun ia bukan alasan untuk menaikkan harga barangan pengguna dengan melampau.

"Jika terpaksa sekali pun (naik harga barang), kenaikannya tidak boleh membebankan pengguna yang sedia maklum terbeban dengan kos sara hidup akibat pandemik dan bencana banjir baru-baru ini," katanya kepada BH, hari ini.

Mohd Yusof berkata, pihak peniaga dan industri sepatutnya memikirkan cara mengoptimumkan penggunaan elektrik mereka dengan menggunakan peralatan jimat elektrik.

Katanya, pihak peniaga dan industri terutama syarikat seharusnya melabur dalam penggunaan elektrik baharu seperti solar dan sebagainya.

"Kita kena ingat, penggunaan elektrik antara industri dan pengguna domestik berbeza. Mereka menggunakan elektrik untuk menjana pendapatan manakala pengguna domestik menggunakan elektrik untuk kegunaan kehidupan harian.

"Justeru, saya berharap pihak berkuasa terutama Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna (KPDNHEP) dapat memantau perkara ini supaya pengguna tidak dibebani dengan kenaikan harga barangan yang melampau," katanya.

KPDNHEP sebelum ini memberi jaminan akan memantau syarikat pengeluar barangan bagi memastikan tiada peningkatan harga susulan kenaikan tarik elektrik sektor industri.

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January 25, 2022
IT is indeed depressing for consumers to hear that the prices of essential goods such as chicken and eggs are likely to increase after Feb 4.
Consumers are already suffering from an overall increase in prices of essential goods, including fruits, vegetables and fish.

To further hear that the prices of chicken and eggs will increase is indeed sad and disheartening.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) has always been raising the issue of the impact of increasing prices of food and essentials on consumers, especially low-income consumers.

Low-income consumers are especially impacted by high food prices as a substantial part of their household income is spent on food. Therefore, price increases have a drastic negative impact on them.

Two factors that contribute to the increase are price manipulation and the abuse of Approved Permits (AP).

We have always suggested that one of the key factors of the high price of food is monopolistic practices along with various parts of the food supply chain.

A 2019 report on the market review of key food items by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) confirms that one of the key reasons for high food prices is distortions and manipulations in the food supply chain.
For example, the price of ikan kembong has increased by six times between the price received by the fisherman and the price paid by the consumer.

Another example of a substantial price increase is the price of cabbage, priced at the farm for RM1.60 while the consumer pays a retail price of RM3.90, an increase of 143%.

MyCC in their report has identified multiple causes of the exorbitant food price in the market.

The reasons include market manipulation by middlemen and multiple intermediaries, causing an unreasonable hike in food prices.

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January 20, 2022 @ 5:50pm
LETTERS: When laws and institutions established to protect consumers fail; the consumer suffers.

Fomca expresses its gratitude to the prime minister for intervening in the Touch 'n Go (TnG) saga to provide some protection to consumers by giving them a choice rather than forcing radio-frequency identification (RFID) on consumers.

But that is not enough. The Competition Act 2010 was established to prevent monopolistic behaviour.

Fomca had filed a complaint with the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) on Oct 30, 2018 against consumer abuse by TnG because of its monopolistic position.
Two years later, on Aug 28, 2020, MyCC responded that it had undertaken an investigation and according to the results of their inquiry, "the issues raised do not raise any competition concern".

As a dominant monopoly protected by the government, TnG does not seem to care about the wellbeing of consumers or their needs and problems. When TnG first announced that RFID would replace the Smart Tag, it drew outrage from the rakyat.

TnG then assured that use of Smart Tag would continue and consumers would be given a choice of either Smart Tag or purchasing the new RFID. It claimed to be sensitive to the voice of the rakyat.

However, it went on ahead and reduced Smart Tag lanes at some toll plazas.

This is clearly an abuse of its dominant position because consumers do not have a choice.

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January 20, 2022 @ 9:00am
KUALA LUMPUR: The radio-frequency identification (RFID) lanes at the North South Expressway have come under fire for being nothing more than a glorified Touch 'n Go system.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive officer T. Saravanan said this following traffic snarls on the North-South Expressway due to faulty RFID tags and the removal of Smart Tag lanes to incorporate the new system.

"So far it's just a glorified Touch 'n Go system because it is not gateless or fully automated like the systems in Australia and Portugal.

"Also the traffic jams we have seen since Monday means that the system is unable to perform better than Smart Tag or Touch 'n Go. And this proves to the public that their doubts and hesitations were not wrong.

"They haven't even sorted out glitches in the system, so how are they going to prove to the consumers that paying RM35 and getting the system fitted in their vehicles is for their benefit?"

Saravanan said people were hesitant to make the switch because Smart Tag and Touch 'n Go were convenient.

"We can change it from one car to another, unlike RFID. But with RFID, when there is an issue, drivers have to reverse in chock-a-block traffic because there is no one in the booths and that is extremely unsafe and stressful."

He said while there was an announcement that attendants would be placed in the RFID lanes to address this issue, Saravanan said it was counter-

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January 12, 2022 @ 12:23am
LETTERS: IT is depressing for consumers to hear that the price of essentials, such as chicken and egg, is likely to increase after Feb 4.

Consumers are already suffering from increased prices of other essentials, like fruits, vegetables and fish.

The Federation of Malaysia Consumers Associations (Fomca) has been highlighting the impact of increasing prices of food and essentials on consumers, especially low-income earners.

Low-income consumers are hard hit by high food prices as a substantial part of their earnings is spent on food.

Two factors that increase food prices are price manipulation and the abuse of approved permits (APs).

We have always said that monopolistic practices in the food supply chain had inflated prices.

A 2019 report on the market review of key food items by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) found that one of the key reasons for high food prices was distortion and manipulation in the supply chain.

For example, the price of ikan kembong increased six times between what the fisherman was paid and what the consumer forked out at the market. Another example is cabbage. The price at the farm is RM1.60, while the consumer paid RM3.90, an increase of 143 per cent.

MyCC in their report identified several causes of exorbitant food prices, including market manipulation by middlemen and intermediaries, causing unreasonable increases in food prices.

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