(Petaling Jaya, Friday): The Cabinet should heed the mounting protests by consumers, NGOs and computer companies and abolish the scheme granting monopoly status to the Post Office to sell computers under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme through a local mail order firm, Odasaja (M) Sdn Bhd.
The latest protest had come from the Malaysian Computer Entreprenuers Association representing half the country's 10,000 computer dealers which sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister warning that the Cabinet decision to grant monopoly status to the Post Office threatens the existence of 70 percent of the computer companies involving the employment of 50,000 people.
While abuses of EPF withdrawals under the EPF’s personal computer scheme must be stamped out, this is no excuse or justification for the granting of monopoly status to the Post Office and Odasaja (M) Sdn. Bhd. depriving the consumers of their right to choice of computers as well as threatening the existence of computer companies.
As Malaysia is still far behind other countries in terms of Internet usage, the Post Office should play a key role in a national strategy for community- based access to IT to promote higher internet penetration rate instead of being a monopoly to sell computers under the EPF scheme.
In its Asia-Pacific Telecommunications Indicators 2000, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reported on Malaysia’s low Internet penetration rate of 6.9% as compared to the average of 23.7% registered by Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan and the 22.9% recorded for Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Amar Leo Moggie said recently that the number of Internet users in the country is expected to increase from the current 6% of the population to 25% over the next five years.
This is clearly a most unsatisfactory target for internet penetration for the country, aiming to achieve in five years’ time an Internet penetration rate presently enjoyed in Singapore, if Malaysia is serious in wanting to take the quantum leap into the information society and to be in the front rank of IT powers with the establishment of the Multimedia Super Corridor.
If Malaysia does not want to learn from Singapore, it should then learn from Ireland, which has achieved more than 40 per cent of Irish people having access to the Internet, up from 33 per cent last year and just 5 per cent four years ago.
With the reach of post offices around the country, the Post Office should play a key role to promote high Internet penetration rate in the country and not to acquire monopoly status to sell computers under the EPF scheme.
(29/12/2000)