KUALA LUMPUR: The transport ministry today said it would exempt large families from installing child restraint seats (CRS) in their vehicles, acknowledging that the directive would be difficult and costly for them to implement.Deputy Transport Minister Kamarudin Jaffar gave the example of a family with four children, saying it would be hard to fit so many seats in a single car.As someone with many children himself, he added, he could relate to such problems.“I am looking at some flexibility when it comes to children between 120cm and 135cm tall,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat.“Imagine if parents have four children – what vehicle would they drive? Don’t tell me they need to use a Toyota Alphard,” he added.
He was responding to Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) who asked about the rule requiring the use of child safety seats and seat belts for rear passengers in all private vehicles beginning next January.He said the CRS rule would be implemented in stages, adding that the government wished to educate the people, not punish them.He also said his ministry had zero-rate import duties and reduced the sales and services tax on CRS to 5% to help reduce the people’s financial burden.“We are serious about making this mandatory as 14% to 15% of children are killed in road accidents,” he said.
HARGA petrol RON95 akan diapungkan secara berperingkat sebaik sahaja Program Subsidi Petrol (PSP) dilaksanakan Januari depan bertujuan tidak membebankan pengguna.Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna, Chong Chieng Jen berkata, kementerian memutuskan menaikkan harga bahan api sebanyak satu sen setiap minggu sehingga harga petrol RON95 mencapai harga pasaran.“Keputusan mengapungkan harga minyak bagi meringankan kos hidup rakyat selain mengelak harga barangan tidak naik secara mendadak.“Kita akan apungkan harga petrol berperingkat sebanyak sen satu seminggu sehingga harga RON95 sampai harga pasaran,” katanya pada sesi jawab lisan di sidang Dewan Rakyat, hari ini.
Read more: myMETRO: RON95 naik 1 sen setiap minggu tahun depan
MANY local service providers are keen on helping their consumers by providing efficient assistance through their customer service department.Unfortunately, there are many service providers who are encumbering their consumers by charging them for using their 1300 toll-free number.Toll-free number 1800 is free for both landline and mobile. But, many service providers are offering toll-free number 1300 where consumers are charged for using the services.
This is unfair as service providers should provide customer service and assistance free of charge. Some consumers find it difficult to contact the service provider’s landline number, hence use the toll-free number 1300 on matters related to the service provider.Consumers are not aware that they are being charged for using the 1300 toll-free number.Service providers should provide alternatives for the consumers to call if they have any queries or matters to clarify. They can provide more landlines for consumers to contact.Please note that if you want to use the toll-free 1300, you have to pay for the call. It is utterly unfair to charge consumers when it is supposed to be toll-“FREE”.
S. BASKARAN,
Senior Manager,National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC)
LANDLORDS can check if their tenants are paying the electricity bill on time via the myTNB app or portal.Responding to StarMetro’s article “Change name in TNB account so tenants will be liable for bills” on Oct 21, national utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd said landlords who fear being saddled with massive unpaid bills by errant tenants had several options.Besides changing the name on the TNB account for the rental properties, landlords who did not want to do so had the option of using the myTNB app or portal to scrutinise the bills and payment records, it said in a statement.
“In the event the overdue amount for a particular account has surpassed the security deposit that the landlord has collected from the tenant, the landlord can request for disconnection of electricity supply by contacting TNB CareLine at 1-300-88-5454, ” it said.The article highlighted cases where landlords were left owing a huge sum of money to TNB because of their tenants, who had run off or disappeared without paying the electricity bills, which in some cases ran up to several hundred thousand ringgit. The landlords were reminded to change the name in the TNB account of their rental properties, so that the tenants will be responsible for the charges owing.
In reality, consumers are duped into signing up for the timesharing packages without understanding the terms and conditions.Consumers must ensure their full details are recorded in a form.They must also read the fine print in an agreement before they accept an offer.Those who have doubts are entitled to terminate the agreement within the cooling-off period of 10 days.Unfortunately, the agreement usually takes a month to reach consumers via mail.The right procedure is for the companies to send the proposal via email and give the consumers time to read and understand the terms and conditions before accepting the offer.One consumer complained that he was not informed that he could use the holiday package only every alternate year.
HOW much does it cost a fresh graduate to own a car in Australia and in Malaysia?On an average income of A$55,000 per year (RM155,375), a fresh graduate in Australia can easily buy a Honda Civic worth A$25,000 (RM70,625) with half a year of his salary.When I first started to work as an assistant architect in the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Architect Department in the 1960s, earning RM628 per month, I was able to buy my first car, a Peugeot 404 which cost RM7,724 with one year of my salary. It was a big car, way too big for a fresh graduate! So it became my reliable companion for 14 years.Those were the good old days in Malaysia when a car could be bought with just one year’s salary of a fresh graduate.
Today, our fresh graduates earn an average of RM30,000 per year (RM2,500 per month). It would cost them four years’ salary to purchase a Honda Civic of around RM120,000. Myvi, our local car, would still cost them around two years’ salary.For our graduates, the cost of purchasing a car today is without a doubt much higher than their counterparts in Australia. Imagine if the selling prices of our medium and higher-range cars were to be increased in order to subsidise the lower-range cars, how would this impact the overall costs of cars in our country?You may find this idea ridiculous. Yet this is exactly what is happening in our housing industry.All private housing developers are required to pay compliance cost including statutory contributions (contribution to build roads, drainage, electricity, water, and sewerage system, etc), processing fee, land matters and others.
On top of that, other hidden compliance costs such as the low-cost housing quota and surrender of land for utilities are absorbed by housing developers.Since 1982, private developers have been required to allocate a 30% quota for low-cost housing when they develop new projects. The controlled selling prices of these houses ranged from RM25,000 to RM42,000.Based on a study “The Impact of Capital Contributions and Compliance Costs on Housing Affordability” by Dr Foo Chee Hung of MKH Bhd,compliance costs made up the bulk of the development cost. They ranged from 2.8% to 19.9% of the gross development value (GDV) of a condominium development; and 9.5% to 35.1% for a terrace house development.
Read more: STAR ONLINE: Cross-subsidisation costing the rakyat,Datuk Alan Tong
Pandangan En Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman (Naib Presiden FOMCA) atas keputusan Touch n Go untuk menutup perkhidmatan tambah nilai di semua lorong keluar plaza tol lebuh raya.
Johor Bahru: Efforts to reduce fossil fuel usage by 20% and green houses gasses by 45% has got the government looking to the sun for clean, green and renewable energy solutions. Energy Conservation towards a new era.
VVIP: En Wong Ting Song (Setiausaha Bahagian Kecekapan Tenaga MESTECC), Tuan Haji Meraj (Presiden Persatuan Kebajikan Johor), Tenaga Nasional Berhad representatives and Dato Paul Selvaraj (CEO FOMCA).
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