CONSUMERS ASKED TO SPEND WISELY

PETALING JAYA, March 23 (Bernama) -- If consumers are regarded as kings,
then why should they need protection?

It is simply because there are manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers who
often take advantage of the consumers' weakness in exerting their right, said
Dr Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem, former executive director of the Malaysian
Institute of Economic Research (MIER).

Speaking at the launch of the Consumer Research and Resource Centre (CRRC)
here, he said the consumer could only be king if he operated in a group and not
as an individual.

He referred to the government's move to reduce workers' contribution to the
Employees' Provident Fund with the aim of putting more cash in the pockets of
consumers and encouraging them to spend.

"However, if the money is not spent wisely it would be detrimental to the
future of the consumers themselves," he pointed out.


Dr Mohamed Ariff said the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations
(Fomca), which was affiliated to the CRRC, could play a pivotal role in
educating consumers and assisting them to be "kings" by exerting their right.

He urged the government to emulate Vietnam and Cambodia which had introduced
a "Competitions Act" in order to curtail monopoly.

He said it was important to encourage competition as it would ensure better
and cheaper products for the consumer.

On the proposed Goods & Services Tax, he said it was to enable the
government to collect more taxes because the system worked such that the more
consumers bought the more they paid, particularly the rich who bought luxury
items.

Items frequently used by the poor and low-income group were exempted from
this tax, he added.

-- BERNAMA