EARLY last week, the Customs Department director-general announced that telcos had been directed to revert the prices of prepaid reload cards to pre-Goods and Services Tax rates which were then ax-inclusive. A few hours later, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission responded that it was “near-impossible” to make the change in two days due to “systems reconfiguration issues”. Nearly 24 hours after making the announcement, Customs had indefinitely postponed its directive.
The issue created confusion and generated anger among consumers as many had high hopes it would be solved immediately.
It is important for the relevant parties to solve the issue immediately, as it causes unnecessary financial burden to consumers.
It is also not right for the policymaker to continuously create confusion over directives or announcements they make.
Confusion over policy directives or announcements is not something new to us.
In March, a similar incident occurred where, after the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) had announced new fare adjustments for public transport services shocked the country, within two days, the cabinet asked it to postpone the fare hike.
All these not only create much confusion, it also causes anger to many people in the country as there is no consistency shown by policymakers over many issues lately.
Therefore, it is crucial for all our policymakers to discuss any matter beforehand and obtain final approval from all relevant parties before announcing any new policy or regulations to the public.
Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow, Nilai, Negri Sembilan