CFM Continues To Serve the Communications and Multimedia Consumers With New Line-ups

Kuala Lumpur, 21 October 2009 – The Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) members unanimously voted the President of Negeri Sembilan Consumer Association, Tuan Haji Khairuddin Yunus, as the new Chairman. He is then joined by Puan Nor Esah Mohd Said from Maxis Mobile who is appointed as Deputy Chairman, Mrs. Saffura Chinniah (DiGi) as Secretary and Mr. Lim Kim Seng (Malaysian Mobile Content Providers Association) as Treasurer.

In his inaugural address as CFM chairman, Tuan Haji Khairuddin Yunus said, “I thank all members for their vote of confidence in my capabilities. I want CFM to continue its current efforts by assisting the consumers with issues related to communications and multimedia services. Apart from that, I also want regular meetings between the supply side and the demand side to ensure the industry in self-regulated in a fairly and transparent manner.” 

During the 9^th Annual General Meeting also, CFM appointed 13 new councilors that will guide the forum for the next two years. Apart from the abovementioned office bearers, the remaining councilors are Tuan Haji Ahmad Ismail representing Telekom Malaysia, Ms. Sharmitha Visvalingam (Astro), Cik Laili Hanim (TV3), Encik Mohd. Adnan Abdullah (Celcom), Dr. Doris Padmany (the Malaysian Consumer and Family Economics Association, Mr. Ravinder Singh (Consumer Association of Penang), Encik Noor Nirwandy Mat Nordin (the Malaysian Islamic Consumer Association), Tuan Haji Ahmad Ramli (the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization - Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics) and Puan Normazalila Abu Bakar (Multimedia University). 

CFM also pleased to announce the launch of complaints portal and the CFM ConsumerINFO education series in line with its mission to empower communications & multimedia consumers. The event was graced by YB Dato’ Joseph Salang, Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Culture and witnessed by Deputy Director General, Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture. 

The Complaints Portal (CoP) is an online complaint management system utilised by CFM to help consumers to lodge unresolved complaints about their communications & multimedia services. CoP was developed based on CFM's General Consumer Code of Practice (GCC) which states that service providers are required to acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 3 working days and respond to the complainant within 7 working days with a solution or explanation of what needs to be done to resolve the complaint and the timeline required to do so.  The service providers are also obligated to ensure that at least 90% of complaints are resolved within 15 business days and at least 95% of complaints are resolved within 30 business days.

CFM's Executive Director, Encik Muhamad Tahir Muhamad Noor said,” CFM is expanding avenues for consumers to send their unresolved complaints to CFM in the most proficient way. The introduction of CoP also allows better coordination between the relevant parties to ensure faster resolution of complaints. However, consumers are advised to lodge complaints to their service provider first, and then escalate to CFM if they are still unsatisfied with the result.

CFM also launched its education series entitled, ConsumerInfo, which is a long-term program to promote awareness and positive consumerism amongst consumers of communications and multimedia services. ConsumerInfo aspires to educate consumers so that they are in a better position in selecting services or products that best meet their needs as well as to understand their rights and responsibilities. ConsumerInfo is dedicated to assist consumer to make a smart decision and understand their rights before choosing the communications and multimedia products or services. “As better-informed consumers, all of us will play a role in ensuring better quality of service is being rendered, especially through the channeling of feedback and complaints to the service providers” commented Muhamad Tahir.  

ABOUT CFM

CFM is a forum designated by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) to draft, develop and prepare voluntary Industry Codes that protect the rights of the consumers of communications and multimedia services, as well as recommend procedures for compensation and any other course of action available to the consumer in case of a breach of a Consumer Code. CFM is also tasked in providing an avenue for consumers to lodge their complaints and endeavors to promote consumer confidence and encourage high standards of service delivery, conduct and performance throughout the Communications and Multimedia industry.  
 
CFM's General Consumer Code of Practice (GCC) was registered with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) in October 2003 and is binding on all service providers licensed under the Communications and Multimedia Act 98 (CMA 98). The GCC provides a base guideline for service providers to adhere to in activities such as complaints handling, advertising, marketing, administering services to consumers and its customers and so on.  Visit www.cfm.org.my for more info.