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LETTER | The Covid-19 pandemic created chaos for every one of us as many lost their jobs and some were forced to take pay cuts and even no-pay leave. To recuperate from the depression is going to be arduous for many of them. The government has recently lifted the conditional movement control order (MCO) for the recovery movement control order (RMCO). People are just coming out from their domains and starting to restructure and look into their livelihoods.
So another pressing issue which is on the table now and needs to be seriously attended to is the due date set by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) for the submission of the income tax return Form BE. Although LHDN has extended submission of the Form BE from May 15, 2020, to June 30, 2020, the situation is still beleaguered as many are still finding it difficult to make ends meet. It is going to be agony for the people with very little money in hand to come up with a payment to the LHDN in these trying times.
The moratorium and the discount under Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE) are coming in handy at this particular juncture. The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) is urging the LHDN to do the same by extending the due date for Form BE till the end of September. With this extension, the taxpayers will be able to start anew by focussing on their livelihoods such as looking for a job or jobs to substantiate their incomes.
The actual scenario of how badly the people were hit is clearly visible at queues at the pawnshops as soon as the MCO was lifted. There was also a lot of hue and cry over the electricity bills which were exorbitant. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) came up with a better solution to help the public. The LHDN should indeed follow the footsteps set by them.
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KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (FOMCA) has called upon the taxman to throw a lifeline to Malaysians by pushing back the due date for their income tax returns.
FOMCA president Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason said although the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) has extended the deadline for submission of Income Tax Return Form (ITRF) BE from May 15 to June 30, many are beleaguered as they are still finding it difficult to make ends meet.
"It is going to be agony to the people with very little money in hand to come up with payment to LHDN in these trying times," he said in a statement, today.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic has affected every one, with many forced to take pay cuts and no-pay leave, while others lost their jobs altogether.
"People are just coming out from their homes and starting to restructure and looking into their livelihoods," he said.
As such, Marimuthu urged LHDN to push the deadline for ITRF submission to the end of September.
He added that with this extension, taxpayers would be able to focus on their livelihoods, such as looking for a job or several jobs to increase their incomes.
"The actual scenario of how badly the people were hit was clearly visible at queues at pawn shops as soon as the MCO was lifted.
Read more: 'Msians not financially ready; push back income tax return deadline'
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23 Jun 2020
SHAH ALAM - Gabungan Persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (Fomca) menyambut baik usaha kerajaan menggesa syarikat penerbangan menurunkan harga tambang susulan kelonggaran prosedur operasi standard (SOP) penjarakan sosial terhadap penumpang dalam pesawat dan pengunjung terminal lapangan terbang.
Timbalan Presidennya, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman berkata, perkara itu wajar diteliti setelah kerajaan memberi kebenaran membawa penumpang dalam kapasiti penuh berbanding ketika tempoh Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) sebelum ini.
Menurutnya, syarikat penerbangan perlu kembali kepada harga tambang asal tetapi perkara itu tidak berlaku apabila mereka masih mengekalkan kadar tambang yang mahal.
“Adalah tidak wajar syarikat penerbangan menjadikannya sebagai alasan untuk menampung kerugian yang dialami mereka sepanjang tempoh PKP kerana situasi pandemik Covid-19 itu dialami oleh semua pihak,” katanya kepada Sinar Harian di sini semalam.
Mohd Yusof berkata, Fomca dan pengguna memahami kadar tambang yang tinggi sebelum ini kerana mereka tidak dibenarkan beroperasi secara penuh tetapi kini semua syarikat penerbangan dibenarkan untuk membawa penumpang dalam kadar yang penuh.
Read more: Turun harga tambang: Fomca sambut baik gesaan kerajaan
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20/06/2020 06:30 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Jun -- Gabungan Persatuan-persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA) menyambut baik skim Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan yang diumumkan hari ini yang disifatkan dapat meringankan beban pengguna.
Ketua Pegawai Operasi FOMCA T. Saravanan berkata gabungan itu juga percaya pelaksanaan skim tersebut dapat memberikan lebih banyak masa kepada pengguna untuk pulih dari segi kewangan.
Beliau berkata demikian dalam kenyataan hari ini sebagai mengulas pengumuman kerajaan berhubung pelaksanaan rebat bil elektrik dan diskaun berjumlah RM942 juta bagi pengguna domestik untuk bulan April, Mei dan Jun.
Ketika mengumumkan perkara itu, Menteri Tenaga dan Sumber Asli Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah berkata di bawah skim bantuan berkenaan, kira-kira empat juta atau 52.2 peratus pengguna domestik yang mempunyai bil elektrik bawah RM77 sebulan atau penggunaan kurang 300 kWh akan menikmati bekalan elektrik percuma selama tiga bulan.
Pada masa sama, FOMCA mencadangkan agar struktur blok tarif yang digunakan sekarang disemak semula kerana sudah ketinggalan zaman selain berbentuk menghukum pengguna bagi penggunaan yang tinggi sekalipun matlamatnya untuk menggalakkan penggunaan tenaga yang cekap serta mengurangkan impak ke atas alam sekitar.
Read more: FOMCA sambut baik rebat bil elektrik, saran semakan semula blok tarif
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KUALA LUMPUR: Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan yang menawarkan potongan bil elektrik pengguna selama tiga bulan, akan meringankan beban pengguna susulan peningkatan ketara bil sepanjang tempoh Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP).
Timbalan Presiden Gabungan Persatuan-Persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA), Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, berkata sebahagian besar pengguna kini boleh menarik nafas lega dengan pengumuman itu, khususnya mereka yang terjejas pendapatan dalam tempoh PKP.
"FOMCA mengalu-alukan pengumuman itu. Kita maklum bahawa sepanjang PKP, penggunaan elektrik meningkat kerana hampir semua orang terpaksa duduk di rumah, namun pada masa sama ramai juga yang terjejas pendapatan dan diberhentikan kerja.
"Sehubungan itu, potongan bil ini akan memberi kesan kepada mereka yang terbeban dengan bil elektrik yang melambung tinggi pada April, Mei dan Jun.
"Sama ada jumlah potongan itu cukup atau tidak bergantung pada kadar penggunaan elektrik seseorang itu, namun yang penting ia amat membantu," katanya kepada BH, hari ini.
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June 20, 2020 @ 6:57pm
KUALA LUMPUR: The RM942 million assistance under Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik will not only ease financial burden among the people but also gave them time to restore their monetary stability which was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Federation of Malaysian of Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief operating officer Saravanan Thambirajah described the additional assistance as timely and that it was much needed by the people during this challenging period.
"Fomca would like to the Prime Minister, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resource, Energy Commission and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for listening to the grouses of consumers.
"This assistance is timely and is a much needed for the rakyat during this trying time.
"Fomca, however, also would like to suggest to the government to conduct stakeholders engagement in future to get their opinions to get better picture of the problems," said Saravanan, who is also the Water and Energy Consumers Associations of Malaysia (WECAM) president.
Fomca also called on the government to review the current tariff block structure which the association deems as being outdated.
"The current block punishes the consumers if the consumption is high. We understand that this is to encourage energy efficiency and reduce its impact to the environment.
Read more: Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik will address consumers' financial burden
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Saturday, 20 Jun 2020 05:48 PM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca), while welcoming the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan scheme, has requested the government to also review the tariff block structure on the grounds that the current one is outdated.
Fomca chief operation officer T. Saravanan said the current block punishes the consumers if the consumption is high, even if it was meant to encourage energy efficiency.
“Today, we already have a mix of renewable energy such as large scale solar farms, which are able to generate green energy. The way forward, we need to relook into the need to restructure the tariff block.
“However, with this current initiative (Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan), Fomca believes the burden of most consumers would be put at ease and they would have more time to recover financially,” he said in a statement here, today.
The government today announced electricity bill rebates and discounts totalling RM942 million for domestic users for the months of April, May and June.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah when announcing it said a total of four million or 52.2 per cent of domestic consumers with a monthly electricity bill of less than RM77 or consumption of less than 300kWh, will enjoy free electricity supply for three months under the assistance scheme.
Read more: Fomca welcomes TNB rebates, wants tariff block structure reviewed
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17 Jun 2020, 5:52 pm
LETTER | Coronavirus is still around and the vaccine is yet to be found. Government is trying its level best to contain the virus from spreading.
Covid-19 has caused a lot of detriment to individual, companies and the government alike. People have lost jobs and are struggling to make ends meet.
Government, on the other hand, has imposed the movement control order (MCO) to contain it from spreading.
Since the number of infected patients has reduced, the government has lifted MCO and enforced recovery MCO in order to revive the economy and let people be on their own feet again.
With stringent SOP on social distancing, using hand sanitiser and donning face mask, working people are patronising eateries to dine or to pack their food as take away.
Since the eateries have reduced the number of tables and chair, there have been long queues at certain eateries. The waiting is pretty long for them to get a seat and the wait for food to come.
At certain places the eateries management allocates certain time limit to the customers to dine in, which is indirectly paving way for more diners to eat there, hence bringing in more revenue for the eateries.
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In 1972, after the first day of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment, it was decided that there would be a day declared as World Environment Day. Since 1974, World Environment Day has become a global celebration with a common theme of "Only One Earth" to signify the importance of protecting the one and only place we call home.
This initiative also aligns well with our No 13 of our Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which is climate action. Environment Day is celebrated on annually on June 5 and aims to promote awareness to protect our nature and biodiversity. The theme for the year 2020 is "Biodiversity" with the tagline "Time for Nature". What do we mean by biodiversity?
At its root, biodiversity basically means the variation of all the species from various habitats and terrains. Biodiversity is not a list of plants and animals, but a series of relationships in a complex web. When one part disappears, every other part of this complex chain is affected.
Biodiversity comprises three levels of diversity, which are genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity. Thus, it is the foundation for a healthy planet and healthy people. Diverse ecosystems are more resilient and better able to recover from stress such as drought or human-induced habitat encroachment such as over-grazing.
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KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers' Associations (Fomca) is urging the government to look into increasing its health expenditure to 7 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Fomca president Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason said an increase in spending, better budget management and reduction of corruption and leakages would enhance the public healthcare sector.
He lauded the Health Ministry for their handling of the Covid-19 crisis that was eased by the additional financial support given to them.
Marimuthu however said in normal, pre-Covid times, however, the healthcare system is overburdened and underfunded.
He said 65 per cent of the population used public healthcare services however only 45 per cent of this demographic was served by registered doctors, while 25 per cent of them were served by specialists.
"There is a clearly under-investment in pubic healthcare. Health expenditure is a mere 4.4 per cent of GDP, while the World Health Organisation suggests expenditures of up to 7 per cent of GDP," he said while quoting data made available to Fomca by the Health Ministry.
He said that among the three biggest challenges include the insufficient beds in hospitals which deny patients who need to be warded the urgent medical facilities and services that they are supposed to be provided with.
"This has severe consequences for low income consumers, for if they are unable to get access to public healthcare, are forced to go to private hospitals, which would severely affect their financial wellbeing.
Read more: Increase health expenditure to 7pct of GDP, govt told
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