The water restructuring exercise between The Federal and Selangor Governments is expected to solve the state’s water related problems.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (FOMCA) deputy president, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman said he welcomed the water deal and hope that the projects that were put on hold could resume.

“Previously, a lot of developments projects had to be put on hold because developers could not get approval for water supply for their projects.

“To solve the Klang Valley water woes, the long-delayed water construction of The Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant has to resume soon.”

Yusof said Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) should come up with methods to ensure continuous and sufficient clean water supply to the people and reduce non-revenue water.

He said water treatment plants should also be upgraded.

“This to ensure that there is no disruption of clean water supply.”

Yusof said Menteri Besar Azmin Ali needed to reveal the increase in water tariffs.

“He needs to disclose the cost of restructuring.”

Water and Energy Research Malaysia Association president S. Piarapakaran said the success of the water deal depended on how Air Selangor was managed.

He said the outcome would depend on how fast they could improve water treatment services and reduce non-revenue water.

“Improvements will take time and depend on Air Selangor’s management.”

Source : New Straits Time – (10 September 2015, Thursday)

Just recently I read in the news that Johor is buying water from Singapore. I find it funny because I thought Malaysia was the one that should be selling water to Singapore. By reading up a little more, it turned out that the issue was caused by river pollution by an oil palm mill, and it forced water treatment plants in the area to close.

Being in the same region, the amount of average rainfall we get is similar, but with a bigger land area we should be able to ‘catch’ more rain. The major rivers are also in Malaysia, which is why I am puzzled as to why we were pushed to take such an action.

If we think about it the answer is pretty simple - inefficient management of water resources and infrastructure. Even though we have environmental laws in Malaysia, pollution is still rampant. The Johor pollution case was simply one that received more media attention due to the water disruption issue. What about those cases that don’t get so much media attention?

Statistics from the Department of Environment tell us that the percentage of clean rivers in Malaysia dropped by a whole 10 percent from year 2011 to 2014, showing us how serious the rate of pollution has become. All the law and regulations do not seem to be working. It is only when a problem such as this large scale water disruption occurs do we hear about polluters being punished. Almost as if those who pollute at a smaller scale are free of guilt.

We must also take note that pollution is not only caused by factories and agriculture. Recently, it was revealed that an average of 2,200 tonnes of rubbish is caught in our river traps every month. This may caused by some people throwing rubbish into the river directly, or the less know reason of throwing rubbish on the road or into the drains. This means that the things that we throw or pour in our drains eventually end up in the river!
Even if we are lucky to live in a country with enough rainfall, we face water supply problems due to our own negligence.

Nevertheless, I appreciate Singapore’s help to provide us with this basic human right when we need it. I hope that this good relationship between our countries can be maintained. However, I do wish that the Malaysian authorities treat this issue as a wake-up call and make the necessary improvements. Rather than waiting for the problem to happen before taking action, why not put more effort into preventing it?

Nah Kok Wai, Research and Policy Executive,
Forum Air Malaysia.
Source : https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/350052

A recent topic that was discussed on social media was a certain water filter that could produce “miracle water” and treat 150 chronic illnesses.

One can be forgiven if one is sceptical about this, but apparently, it has been endorsed by a research university and a singer. Forum Air Malaysia, as a consumer association, has received complaints regarding the “miracle water”.

Consumers feel discomfort in their stomach after about a month of drinking the water.

There are also those who died because they stopped taking their medicine due to their trust in this “miracle water”. However, this may be doubtful because the cause of death was not the water.

Are the health claims from these water filter devices legitimate? No credible agency can confirm it, but at the same time, no one is denying these health claims either.

Yet, we have consumers paying up to RM20,000 for one unit of this water filter.

Attempts have been made to engage the authorities.

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry will give the licence to sell such products as long as these health claims are not in their advertisements. The Health Ministry does not have regulations for this type of water filter.

This is like a blind spot for regulations, one that companies can exploit.

It is a water filter, but it is said to produce water that is as good as medicine, so, which agency should take the lead on this issue?

We have also engaged one of the agents to learn more about this “miracle water”.

Even if the health claims sound ridiculous, the agents seem convincing because they themselves are convinced that the product they sell is good. Can we really blame agents in this situation?

What we need now is verification of the health claims for these water filters.

We also need the authorities to take action if the health claims are given verbally, online or even in WhatsApp chat groups.

The situation does not give enough protection for consumers, so we urge the authorities to look into this issue

Nah Kok Wai, Research and Policy Executive,
Forum Air Malaysia.
Source : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/06/155424/does-miracle-water-claim-hold-water

PETALING JAYA: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) revealed that by next year the local e-commerce industry is expected to hit RM13.3 billion.

Its deputy president Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman said that the positive growth is mainly attributed to the various initiatives and support systems that are widely available to consumers as well as those that are underway.

“However, although the industry’s outlook is relatively positive, consumers on the other hand are exposed to various risks due to the nature of online shopping particularly when the highest complaints that the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) had received in 2014 and 2015 is mostly on e-commerce or online shopping.

“Most of the complaints revolved around the issue of insufficient disclosure on business terms and conditions like refund policies, product quality, inconsistent return policies, poor customer service, items received does not tally with items purchased, and problems with returning wrongly described or faulty products,” Mohd Yusof said during a press conference today.

To address this, Mohd Yusof said more regulatory and constant enforcement attention as well as changes should be made from time to time in order to keep up with the rapid changes in technology.

“For that, we (Fomca and NCCC) have sent a memorandum to the government last year suggesting certain changes that ought to be made to some of the existing laws in order to safeguard the interest of Malaysia’s e-consumers.

“Some of the suggestions include extending the existing cooling off period of 10 days to 14 days, more awareness programmes informing the public of their rights and having a platform to be established within e-commerce practitioners’ site so that buyers can comment about the product purchased,” he added.

At the same time, Mohd Yusof revealed that to further enhance consumer protection across borders, both Fomca and NCCC have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan’s National Consumer Organisations, National Consumer Affairs Center (NCAC), and Singapore’s Consumer Association (Case).

“With this, consumers and tourists from the participating countries would no longer have any issue finding solutions for any of their purchased products,” he explained.

Source ; http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2194

ISO 26000, satu dokumen yang memberikan garis panduan pada pelaksanaan tanggungjawab sosial (Social responsibility) telah disetujui dan diterima untuk penerbitan sebagai standard antarabangsa (ISO International Standard). Ia dijangka akan diterbit pada 1 November.

Ketua Setiausaha Rob Steete menyatakan bahawa ISO 26000 akan membantu organisasi yang menganggap tanggungjawab sosial sekadar idea bagus demi melaksanakan dengan cara pragmatik yang menuju terhadap prestasi. Selain itu, ia juga satu alatan yang akan menolong organisasi mengarah daripada intensif tanggungjawab sosial sahaja kepada aksi yang lebih berkesan.

ISO 26000 membekalkan satu garis panduan yang harmonisasi dan yang boleh bertindak secara global kepada semua sektor awam dan sektor swasta.

Standard ini merupakan satu dokumen yang disetujui oleh semua pihak-pihak berkepentingan yang berlainan. Ia bertujuan untuk menggalakkan pelaksanaan amalan terbaik tanggungjawab sosial secara global.

Dokumen ini mengumpulkan perjanjian global seperti berikut:

Definisi dan prinsip tanggungjawab sosial
Isu utama yang perlu diatasi dalam pelaksanaan tangungjawab sosial
Panduan tentang cara untuk mengintegrasikan tanggungjawab sosial dalam operasi sesebuah organisasi
Pengundian untuk draf akhir standard antarabangsa (Final Draft International Standard, FDIS) bagi versi ISO 26000 tertutup oada 12 September. Ia telah diluluskan oleh 94% Negara yang layak untuk pengundian dan disokong oleh organisasi yang terlibat dalam pembangunan standard ini.

Pembangunan ISO 26000 bermula pada tahun 2005. Projek ini disertai oleh pelbagai kumpulan yang membentuk ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISOWGSR), dimana ia termasuk ahli dan pemerhati dari 99 negara anggota ISO – 69 daripada negara mambangun – 42 sektor awam dan sektor swasta. Ini diwakili oleh 6 pihak berkepentingan yang utama: industri, kerajaan, pekerja, pengguna: diwakili oleh organisasi bukan kerajaan, perkhidmatan, sokongan, penyelidikan dan lain-lain.

Ia adalah seimbang dari segi geografi dan jantina. Secara kesimpulan. kumpulan kerja yang terbentuk ini merupakan yang terbesar dalam sejarah ISO.

ISO / WG SR ini mempunyai kepimpinan bersama oleh ahli anggota ISO iaitu dari Brazil (ABNT) dan Sweden (SIS). Menurut pengerusi pengundian kali ini, Jorge ER Cajazeira menyatakan: suatu hari nanti, organisasi akan melihat pada ISO 26000 dan bertanya bagaimana sesebuah organisasi dapat beroperasi tanpa tanggungjawab sosial. Semua yang terlibat dalam pembangunan ISO 26000 cuba membayangkan bagaimana masa depan kita, jadi mereka mengambil masa 5 tahun untuk membangunkan standard ini.

Selepas pembangunan selama 5 tahun, mereka bersetuju dengan panduan sebanyak 100 muka surat ini. Panduan tanggungjawab sosial ini mengandungi 7 prinsip, 7 isu teras dan 7 langkah untuk pelaksanaan.

ISO 26000 merupakan panduan sukarela dan ia bukan satu dokumen untuk pensijilan pihak ketiga seperti ISO 9001 dan ISO 14001.

Panduan ISO 26000 merujuk kepada amalan terbaik yang dibangunkan oleh sektor awam dan sektor swasta. Selain itu, hal ini setara dengan adanya deklarasi daripada Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu dan konstitusinya, terutamanya Pertubuhan Buruh Antarabangsa (International Labour Organization, ILO), dimana ISO telah menandatangani Memorandum Persefahaman (Memorandum of Understanding, MoU) untuk memastikan konsistensi dengan standard tenaga kerja daripada ILO.

Proses pembangunan standard ISO 26000 ini merupakan satu usaha persetujuan untuk menyediakan dokumen standard daripada draf awal sehingga kepada peringkat draf terakhir dan penerbitan. Jadi, standard ini dapat digunakan di seluruh dunia.

Sam Wong
Persatuan Pengguna-Pengguna Standard Malaysia