Did KTMB breech Act 712 article 10 Abuse of dominant position with recent price hike? Will SPAD protect consumer rights?

Keretapi Tanah Melayu(KTM) – a commonly used public transport for daily commute of thousands of fellow malaysians

The Transport Ministry and the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) recently started looking into the issue of recent fare hikes, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said the complaints from the public had been discussed in the Cabinet. 

Both the ministry and SPAD have been jointly directed to look into the complaints for consideration to be given to children and senior citizens.

Liow said he opposed the decision by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to repeal the fare concessions for children aged seven and below.

KTMB President Lt Col (R) Sarbini Tijan courting the public to continue supporting KTM

KTMB President Lt Col (R) Sarbini Tijan tries to woo the public into supporting KTM by promising to offer numerous discounts for its customers to cut their cost when using their commuter service.

Sarbini stressed out that the train service would guarantee the safety of a customer’s journey compared to using own transport like motorcycles. He also quoted a statement by Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) researcher Yusof Ghani who said the drastic increase in public transport fares is like affecting the safety of road users in Malaysia as many would shift to private vehicles, especially motorcycles, which is known as the most dangerous form of transportation in Malaysia.

Apart from safety from riding motorcycles which is currently the cheapest mode of commute next to trains, Sarbini also tried to convince the public on pollution reduction on commuting by train rather than personal motorized vehicle.

Despite Sarbini’s argument on safety and pollution reduction, Malaysia Critique could not in any way relate neither argument to justify the recent price hike. Whether or not safety and less pollution is a justifiable cause for a train price hike, Malaysia Critique would allow the readers to decide for themselves.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai voicing concern over unreasonable KTMB policies

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, had openly announce his disagreement with KTMB’s new policy which is to move the free ticket from ages below 4 to below 2 while moving the children category from 4 to 12 into 2 to 7 years old which is deemed unreasonable by the public and has created an outcry. Furthermore the recently increase of 4 sen per kilometer from 11 sen per kilometer to 15 sen per kilometer by KTMB is considerably outrageous as it had led to a massive 36% increase in cost of transportation for daily commuters and had hit the public consumer hard especially those who are low to middle income earners.

Ministry and SPAD’s enforcement on taking action is highly valued as there’s been a massive public outcry on the unrealistic 36% overnight increase in fare prices by KTMB in which some may see it as a breach of Act 712 article 10 Abuse of dominant position.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently replied by sending a directive for KTMB to halve its Komuter fares for school pupils and university students aged seven to 18. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai vetoed SPAD in a directors meeting to ensure KTMB abides by the decision. Although the children/adult ticket has been resolved, KTMB President Lt Col (R) Sarbini Tijan has yet to answer the public with a valid argument for the price hike. The rakyat hopes Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) would demand a viable excuse from KTMB for the recent massive price hike.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin voicing concern over fare hikes

With all the fare hikes, do you expect rakyat to walk? – Khairy Jamaluddin

The government has been urged by UMNO youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to refrain from introducing any price hikes as it would burden the people heavily where public transport is a form of necessity for some. Khairy strongly stressed out in the UMNO Youth General Assembly 2015, where enough is enough and the rakyat had clearly had enough of the nuisance and could no longer borne the increased costs that have caused a noticeable impact on burdening their lives.

“Pemuda want the government to stop increasing all hikes at all costs. Enough is enough,” said Khairy Jamaluddin who is Youth and Sports Minister at Putra World Trade Centre on 9 December.

He also instructed that all UMNO youth should argue out on all the toll hikes throughout the country.

“When toll tariffs are increased in the past, we seek the youths to hop on the public transport. But now, after the toll hike, commuter, ERL fares and all other fares are increased too. What choice does the rakyat have, do we expect them to walk,” he added.

Khairy also reminded the Members of Parliament of their ‘aku janji’ back in ge13 not to increase intercity tolls as it had been promised to the rakyat.

Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) Chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar

SuaraTV recently reported that Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) Chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar confirmed that he had clarify with Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob that Cabinet infact did not approve the recent KTM price hike. Does this mean there’s a clear breech of Act 712 article 10 Abuse of dominant position where KTMB management had increased the price of train tickets as they please without consulting neither SPAD nor Putrajaya.

Should Putrajaya give SPAD autonomous power in regulating public transport prices as a controlled item?

Attached is the evidence of the accusation by SuaraTV;

Malaysia Critique was not at the location to validate if the statement by Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar is true or false. Malaysia Critique lets the readers decide if KTM’s price hike is acceptable.