Ministry Targets 70 Pct Consumer Rights Awareness Level 

JOHOR BAHRU, May 18 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) aims to increase the benchmark achievement level for consumer knowledge and empowerment to 70 per cent, compared with the current 63 per cent.

Its Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Fuziah Salleh said the target for the Consumer Empowerment Index (CEI) could be achieved through various awareness programmes implemented jointly with consumer non-governmental organisations (NGOs) nationwide.

“We want them to become smart consumers, to understand that they can make choices, it’s all about choices, and consumers can make choices instead of merely expecting the government to do everything, but also to be involved in overcoming geopolitical challenges,” she said.

She told reporters this after officiating the National Consumer Policy (DPN) 2.0 Advocacy Programme and Consumer Talk here today, which was also attended by state KPDN director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo.

The CEI measures the level of consumer knowledge, skills and confidence to assess the extent to which consumers in the country understand their rights and are able to make wise purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, she said the DPN 2.0 Advocacy Programme and Consumer Talk held today focused on empowering consumers to be better prepared to face global economic challenges.

She said DPN 2.0, which consists of five core pillars, also focuses on efforts to empower consumers to better understand current economic realities and to take proactive steps in managing expenditure, especially amid rising goods prices following the global supply crisis.

In this regard, DPN 2.0 places emphasis on empowering the consumer movement through the Skuad Kita Pengguna (SKiP), established by KPDN as a medium for delivering accurate information to the public.

As of last March, a total of 32,660 SKiP members had been registered nationwide, with 18 training programmes on consumer awareness implemented.

-- BERNAMA