Three-month ultimatum to Pos Malaysia is a step in right direction

by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Saturday, 21st May 1994:

Three-month ultimatum to Pos Malaysia is a step in right direction

The three-month ultimatum to Pos Malaysia to ensure that mail posted in the Klang Valley is delivered on the same day and to other destinations in Peninsular Malaysia within 24 hours, or a second postal franchise would be issued by the government, is a step in the right direction.

In the Parliamentary meeting last month, I had questioned the Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Energy, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the postal delays of Pos Malaysia, and in particular during the Hari Raya holidays in March when mail took over three weeks to reach their destinations.

Datuk Samy Vellu had promised to send me a special report on investigations as to why there had been such a postal delay by Pos Malaysia during the Hari Raya holidays, but I have not received such a report yet.

The question is whether the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Energy would itself adhere to this three-month ultimatum to Pos Malaysia.

The time has come for a more satisfactory mechanism to be established for the Malaysian public to exercise greater control over the performance and the quality of service of privatised entities, whether Pos Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Telekoms, PLUS, etc.

With their privatisation, the people have lost the power to hold them to greater accountability in terms of their pricing, service, performance, etc.

Ministerial responsibility to look after the public interest in privatised sectors has proved to be weak and unsas¬tisfactory, if not non-existent altogether.