Malaysia’s badminton king Lee Chong Wei retires
Malaysia’s badminton king Lee Chong Wei, a three-time Olympic silver medalist and former world number one, announced his retirement yesterday, as prolonged health issues after battling cancer dashed his hopes of a comeback. Lee, who was diagnosed with early stage nose cancer last year, said he opted to retire after being told by doctors that his body could no longer take the intense training needed for high-level competition. Lee is one of Malaysia’s most popular and successful sportsmen. In 2006, he reached the number one ranking, a position he would go on to hold for a record 348 weeks in total. While he will no longer be competing, Lee said he will still be heading to Japan in 2020 as Malaysia’s chef de mission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. (The Edge)
PropTech firms must register with BOVEAP
Property technology (PropTech) companies should heed warning from the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (BOVEAP) to come down hard on them if they are found to offer agency services without proper registration with the board. Malaysian Institute of Professional Estate Agents and Consultants (MIPEAC) president Francis S.P. Loh advised PropTech firms to follow the existing legislations, in light of illegal brokering by some PropTech startups and lack of enforcement. BOVEAP was established under the Finance Ministry to govern and regulate property practitioners to ensure the public are protected when buying, selling, and renting properties. He said while PropTech firms may tout their services to the public with attractive perks and incentives, MIPEAC advises consumers they may not have any recourse to monies held by such firms in the event of a dispute. (NST Online)
More protection for Malaysian consumers with Consumer Credit Act
In order to ensure that consumers are protected and treated fairly, Bank Negara is working with a number of ministries to make the Consumer Credit Act law soon. BNM governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the central bank has been working with a number of ministries, namely, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Entrepreneur Development Ministry to see the process through. “Discussions are at the advanced stage, and we hope that it would be included in the legislative process next year,” she said. The Act will promote a healthy consumer credit market across the board, by providing consumers equal treatment and protection irrespective of who they borrow from. While better legislation can help, there is a need to raise the level of financial literacy in Malaysia as well. The central bank would be introducing a National Strategy for Financial Literacy which is expected to be unveiled in July. (The Star Online)
Govt should reduce direct involvement in affordable housing project
A think-tank is of the view that government agencies should not be directly involved in the building of low-cost homes to generate affordable housing projects. The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said the better way to address the affordability issue would be to remove regulatory obstacles, beginning with reducing the direct involvement of government agencies. IDEAS senior fellow Dr Carmelo Ferlito noted that the low-end market segment was not disregarded by private developers because it was unprofitable, but due a series of regulatory obstacles. According to him, the affordability issue is a complex one, and usually meant a trade-off between three elements: price, floor area and location. (The Edge)
TNB: 85% of complaints on electricity bill spike resolved
Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) today updated that 85% of the over 18,000 complaints from the utility’s consumers across the country on “sky high” electricity bills in April and May, had been resolved. TNB president and CEO Amir Hamzah Azizan said the utility would try to resolve the over 3,000 complaints still remaining as soon as possible. Asked about the penalty that would be imposed by the Energy Commission on TNB over the case, Amir said he had yet to scrutinise the matter and declined to say further. “So far, based on the investigations that we conducted, if it was found that the overbilling was the fault of TNB, we will make the necessary refunds by re-crediting the amounts into the consumers accounts,” he added. (Malay Mail)
