Friends of KPDNHEP's role to be strengthened - Rosol

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) will strengthen the role of volunteer squad, Sahabat KPDNHEP (Friends of KPDNHEP), to help monitor consumer issues nationwide.

Its Deputy Minister, Datuk Rosol Wahid said that according to data, there are more than 800,000 registered Friends of KPDNHEP nationwide, but only 10 per cent are really active in channelling information to the ministry.

Hence, he plans to offer incentives to the volunteer squad members to encourage them to continue to be the government's eyes and ears on consumerism issues.

"Insha-Allah we will empower this squad (Friends of KPDNHEP) by giving incentives in the form of e-wallets or tokens, for channelling reports or information to the ministry.

"We actually have many registered members, but only a small number are proactive and always report issues to us for consideration and action," he said after the closing ceremony of the national level of the 2022 Consumer Interactive Challenge - School Consumer Club (CIP-KPS) here, today.

According to Rosol, the existence and services of Friends of KPDNHEP are essential to help the ministry's enforcement officers and personnel carry out monitoring more effectively throughout the country.

"We have approximately 2,200 enforcement officers and personnel, the number is not enough if we want to monitor the entire country, so their (Friends of KPDNHEP) role is important to help consumers," he said.

In the meantime, Rosol said the ministry will also strengthen the role of the student consumer movement (GPS) to provide education and exposure related to consumerism to young people.

Meanwhile, at today's event, students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Kidurong, Sarawak, were crowned as the CIP-KPS 2022 champions after beating 634 schools nationwide.

They took home a cash prize of RM5,000, a certificate and a trophy.

Second place went to SMK Sri Nangka, Sabah, while SMK Sains Shah Alam, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, placed third. They took home cash prizes of RM3,000 and RM2,000, along with certificates and trophies, respectively.

-- BERNAMA