14-day deadline for depts to reply letters

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KUALA LUMPUR: The government has given a 14-day deadline to all departments and local authorities to respond to letters and queries, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T Murugiah said.He told Bernama yesterday the government was very serious about the matter and that the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) was closely monitoring the situation.

He urged those who had yet to receive any response within the stipulated time to inform the PCB via letters, e-mail, fax, test messages or visiting the office personally.

“We assure the people that the bureau will take up the complaints immediately and get back to the complainant,” he added.

On Wednesday, Information Communicat-ion and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the Prime Minister would himself monitor the situation from time to time to ensure that the response from government departments were on time.

On another matter, Murugiah said he had called for the banning of SMS contests because it was found to have been abused by those promoting them.

He said that the PCB received numerous complaints from participants that they were misled by such contests.

For example there was a recent contest conducted by a mobile phone company where participants complained that their bills were “tremendously inflated” after they were declared as winners.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association reminded consumers to be careful when participating in such contests.

Its secretary-general Mohammed Shaani Abdullah said they should read the “finer points of the conditions” when making decisions to participate.

However, he added that sometimes the companies failed to disclose full information to consumers and this was against the regulations.

He urged the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to closely monitor such contests to avoid abuses. — Bernama