MALAYSIA:PEOPLE MUST USE CONSUMER POWER TO DETERMINE PRICES

SERI ISKANDAR (Malaysia), Oct 26 (Bernama) -- The Domestic Trade,
Cooperative and Consumerism Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Sunday repeated
advice to the people to use their "power" as consumers to determine the price of
goods in the market.

"The people can use their rights as consumers to determine prices...this
realisation is still not widespread among consumers," he said.

He said this lacking of understanding caused many consumers to continue to
hope that the government would act to control prices when it was that only some
goods were controlled under laws like the Price Control Act.

Ismail Sabri said this to reporters after launching the National Institutes
of Higher Education Consumers Club at UiTM Seri Iskandar here Sunday.

He said the rate of consumerism understanding among the people hovered
around 50 per cent and his ministry had increased awareness campaigns through
various channels including television programmes and advertising.


He said for example people were not aware that only five per cent of food
items' prices were controlled namely, rice, sugar, flour, cooking oil, white
bread besides gas, petrol and diesel.

"For local delicacies, the prices are not controlled and consumers
have the power to ensure sellers do not raise blatantly raise prices...use the
power to either buy or boycott goods whose prices are raised," he said.

Ismail Sabri voiced confidence that consumer awareness will increase when
the younger generation in schools and in institutions of higher education were
better exposed to the matter with the setting up of counsumers clubs.

He said till now, 11 institutions of higher education, including nine in
Perak, a northern state in Peninsular Malaysia, had set up clubs and after
today's launch the ministry targetted all 56 institutions of higher education in
the country to set up such clubs before the middle of next year.


He said a further target was to set up consumers clubs in all secondary
schools as now there were only 991 schools that had such clubs.

-- BERNAMA