Letter to Runjit Singh - Consumer Tribunal Chairman

Tuan Runjit Singh,
Pengerusi,
Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia,
Kementerian Pedagangan Dalam Negeri
dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna,
Aras 5, Lot 2G3, Precint 2,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62623 Putrajaya.

26th October 2005

Dear Sir,

RE: Case No: TTPM-WP-(B)-1384-2005
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I'm a blind individual in my mid-50's & a singer/musician by profession. My purpose in writing this letter to you as chairman of the tribunal consumers court, is to seek your kind intervention in a matter which is of great concern to me as a blind person.

On wednesday 26th October 2005, I took a case against a retailer namely Infoflex-1 Sdn Bhd, for selling me an MP3 player which was not user-friendly to me as a blind person. Furthermore, the salesman of the above mentioned company made false claims about the product which in turn misled me to believe that his product was what he claimed it to be. Unfortunately, when I brought the product home, I found that the claims which he had made about the product were entirely false & as I stated earlier, the MP3 player was not user-friendly. When I approached the management of Infoflex-1 for a refund for the above mentioned product, they flatly refused & even when I offered to make a loss of RM100/-, they would not entertain my request. I had therefore no alternative but to bring my complaint against the company to the tribunal consumers court.

For your information, my case was attended to by one of your judges at the tribunal consumers court & the judge presiding over the case was En. Jailani bin Rahman. I wish here at this juncture to inform you that I am most dissatisfied & unhappy with the judgement made by the presiding judge, as I was only awarded half the price of the MP3 player, that is only RM350/- as compared to RM704/- which I paid for the MP3 player. I even found the judge to be both intimidating & biased in making his decision & when I told the defendant that I was prepared to bring this matter to a higher authority should the case not go in my favour, the judge retorted that I was trying to threaten him (the judge) & he even went as far as to say that his decision would be the final one & that it could not be contested in any way. It may surprise you to learn that he has not even provided me with a written copy of the judgement on the case. Even when I tried to remind the judge to use his influence to impress upon the company of it's social obligations towards the less fortunate like myself by giving me a full refund of the product, the judge disregarded my pleas in this respect. As such, I feel that it's a sad day for justice where handicapped people are concerned & it is my sincere hope that as chairman of the tribunal consumers court, you will be so kind as to give my case another hearing, preferably by a different judge, in the hope that this case will be solved amicably & that handicapped people will get the justice that they deserve.

Thanking you for your kind attention & looking forward to your favourable reply.

Sincerely,,
Alfred Ho

c.c.
Mr. Darshan Singh,
National Consumer Complaints Centre
1C-1, Bangunan SKPPK,
Jalan SS9A/17,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor

NOTE : NO RESPONSE FROM RUNJIT SINGH AT ALL

I wish here to inform readers that it was Darshan Singh (Director of National Consumer Complaints Centre) who encouraged me to write to Runjit Singh to intervene in my case and to send him (darshan) a copy of the above mentioned letter. However, when I contacted Darshan Singh the very next day with regards to this matter, he suddenly had a change of heart and decided to wash his hands off my case. I therefore question his integrity as a top official of the national consumers complaints centre. His credibility leaves much to be desired, and his lackadaisical attitude towards me as a blind consumer is most irresponsible, as it gives the impression that he is trying to pervert the course of justice.


Having failed in my quest for justice with the above mentioned organizations, I subsequently brought this matter up with the Malaysian Complaints Bureau where the officer handling my case goes by the name of Asmawar Bin Samat, Director, Federal Territory Branch. (Reference Number BPA/TH/PA/87/1-2JLD3 (11). To cut a long story short, after having been given quite a bit of a run-around, I was finally told by the officer concerned that it was beyond his powers to act with regards to my complaint. Being the determined person that I am, I proceeded to bring my case to the attention of Johor Bahru member of parliament, Sharill Samad, as I was taken in by a speech which he made with regards to a clean, fair and efficient government. Furthermore, I believe that he heads the public accounts committee, and at that time and point I thought that I had no reason to doubt his sincerity. However, much to my disappointment, he took a half hearted approach in dealing with my case, and as such, all the time and trouble that I had taken in getting his assistance in solving the matter at hand was all in vain. Needless to say, I strongly feel that justice has not been served, and believe it or not, I have yet to receive the written judgement for my case which took place about 2 years ago. It is rather disconcerting that even after 50 years of independence, government officials still trample on the rights of the very people that they are supposed to serve. This is certainly a sad state of affairs.