Fomca wants PM’s Department to handle consumer affairs portfolio
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Consumers will get better protection from the Prime Minister’s Department than with the portfolio under the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry, the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) said.
The consumer affairs watchdog said consumer welfare was too wide to be placed under the control of a single ministry as was done currently because there were concerns that overlapped with other ministries, such as health issues and transport matters.
“We want it (consumer issues) to go under the Prime Minister’s Department. We want more serious consumer protection,” Fomca president Datuk Marimuthu Nadason told a press conference today.
He said consumer protection would be better co-ordinated and integrated by creating a consumer protection and consumer welfare agency under the PM’s control as the latter has the power to direct other ministries to act.
“The prime minister is the only one who can decide everything,” Marimuthu said after releasing Fomca’s wishlist in the next elections that must be called within the year.
