Ban use of plastic bags in KL

THE Penang and Selangor governments’ move for ‘No Plastic Bag Day’ has prompted 10 Kuala Lumpur MPs to petition for the city to follow suit.

They are pushing for the initiative following the successful campaign in Penang since last July, while some retailers in Selangor had started the campaign last Saturday.

The 10 MPs who signed the petition were Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, Titiwangsa MP Dr Lo’lo’ Mohamad Ghazali, Bandar Tun Razak MP Tan Sri Abd Khalid Ibrahim, Batu MP Tian Chua, Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong, and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Representing them were Lim, Nurul Izzah, and Tian Chua who were present at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) building in Jalan Raja Laut to hand over the petition to the mayor.

Nurul Izzah said in October last year, the Water, Green Technology and Power Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fa Kui had announced that a national campaign to ban the use of plastic bags would be carried out as one of the ways to conserve the environment and promote green technology.
“However, up until today, it has still not been implemented.

“As Selangor has moved towards that stage recently, we wish to follow in their footsteps which is why we hope the DBKL could take the lead with this initiative,” she said.

“Kuala Lumpur actually produces a lot of waste. In fact, I’ve done some research and learnt that only 5% of solid waste in Malaysia is being recycled,” said Tian Chua.

“Compare this with Singapore where 30% of its solid waste is being recycled. It shows that our country is still far behind in this recycling aspect,” he said.

“By default, Kuala Lumpur as a Federal Territory should take the lead to spearhead the ban of plastic bags in the city,” said Lim.

“Contrary to the worries of some in the retail industry, many urban shoppers nowadays prefer plastic bag alternatives because they care about the environment, and would likely shop at retailers who are doing their bit,” he said.

Nurul Izzah said in Selangor, the state government had invited the hypermarkets and supermarkets in implementing the campaign and said the DBKL, too, could do the same.
“Once it is implemented, the DBKL could impose charges on those still wanting to use plastic bags on Saturdays, like what retailers in Selangor are doing.

“Hopefully in future, we won’t have to impose charges on consumers once they are used to not having plastic bags,” she said.

“Some shocking facts about plastic bags that people should know - plastic bags are made of polyethylene which is a petroleum product; it takes about 1,000 years for polyethylene to break down; when polyethylene does break down, toxic substances leach into the soil and enter the food chain which can choke animals to death as animals often mistake them for food. And plastic is the main culprit for drain clogs,” said Lim.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Penang has extended its once-a-week campaign to three times a week, and announced that from this year on, it would not renew the licence of businesses that did not support the state’s plastic bag reduction policy.

In the report, it is said that data provided by 45 hypermarkets and supermarkets showed that plastic bag consumption has dropped by more than a million since the campaign started.

A scheme too good to be true

IT was an investment plan that looked too attractive to pass up. After all, the plan had the backing of a company that had been in the market for more than 30 years.

Events organiser *Casey was first introduced to the plan in April 2008, when interested members like him were asked to open their master accounts.

Casey was one of the pioneer members of the scheme and thought it would be a good opportunity to earn some extra cash.

The scheme was offered to the public at between RM3,000 and RM30,000.

However, a year and three months down the road, that “investment” turned out to be his biggest mistake when the company failed to pay his returns or commissions and even froze the accounts so that no withdrawals could be made.

“The company told us that our bank accounts were frozen by a bank as it was conducting investigations on credit card fraud.

Boarded up: The shutters at the outlet in Bukit Bintang have been pulled down.

“We later found out that was a lie. The company initially put the blame on Maybank but later omitted the name of the bank,” Casey said.

The initial stage was designed with four plans that members could opt to buy — at a starting price of RM3,000 per lot — the Master Plan Classic (RM3,000), the Silver Plan Classic (three lots) at RM9,000, the Gold Plan Classic (five lots), and Platinum Plan Classic (10 lots).

Members also had to fork out an additional RM100 for an administration fee.
“When the response picked up, the company increased the price per lot to RM4,000,” Casey said.

For their investment, members received a membership prepaid card that entitled them to dine at the chain of air-conditioned mamak outlets.

The prepaid card was first valued at RM1 for one point and members could redeem meals using their points, but in December, it was turned into a discount card.

Another member *Daniel said that sometime in July or August last year, members began to stop receiving their monthly returns.

“We knew of a grandmother who had invested her savings of RM80,000 in the scheme but got nothing in return,” Daniel said.

In October, the company introduced another type of plan — called the EZ Plan — where the starting fee was just RM300, followed by RM900, RM1,500 and the highest at RM3,000.

“It was a less expensive plan for members to join and returns were supposedly faster.
“But, by then, many of us were not interested and we only wanted our earlier returns and investments back,” Daniel said.

Several members investigated the company and discovered that it did not have a licence under the Direct Sales Act 1993. However, the company denied that it practised multi-level marketing.
“They said they were a membership-based company but the form still required members to name their sponsors and find more members,” a disgruntled investor said.

*Janice said the company continued to rope in new members throughout the period and promised returns for all.

“Recently, they claimed to be under the Easy Pha-max banner, but the latter denied that such a deal had been made,” she said.

A call to the parent company revealed that Steven’s Corner was no longer affiliated with STG Resources Sdn Bhd, which had come up with the scheme, and that STG was under a different management.

Initially, STG’s brochures had stressed that Steven’s Tea Garden was a new concept restaurant under the Steven’s Corner group.

When contacted, an operator at STG Resources headquarters in Setapak claimed that it had teamed up with another big corporation and would be coming up with a new plan.

However, a spokesman for the corporation denied that any deal had been struck with STG Resources Sdn Bhd.

Meanwhile, Steven’s Tea Garden outlets in Sunway Pyramid, MidValley Mega Mall, Jalan Bukit Bintang and Ampang have been closed down and as many as 50 former members have sought the help of Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun.

Fong said he had arranged for the victims to meet Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to highlight their plight.

“I’ve also forwarded the case to two other ministries — the Finance ministry and the Home ministry.

“This is a clear-cut case as the company is using a MLM plan without a licence and is still soliciting money from the public,” Fong said, adding that they would meet the minister again soon.

Meanwhile, 12 victims, who had collectively lost about RM1mil, have formed a pro tem committee to help others out.

The committee said they knew there were risks investing in any business but they claimed that STG had not been truthful or transparent.

“The company is misleading people and collecting money from the public without a licence.
“The government has to take serious action in this case and about 1,000 police reports have already been lodged against the company,” they said.

The group is also seeking legal advice but admit that the chances of recovering their money was slim.

Steven’s Corner CEO Gunalan Sinnapan, meanwhile, said the Steven’s Tea Garden trademark was registered to him and he had pulled the name back following the scandal that had smeared his image.

“Previously, the directors approached me as they wanted to use our name to come up with the MLM concept prepaid food card.

“We were only asked to manage the outlets and supply the food while they carried out the marketing plan.

“However, we also did not receive any payments for six months before they told us they would change the concept as their application for a licence had been rejected.

“Our Steven’s Tea Garden outlets were actually doing well until the MLM plan collapsed entirely,” Gunalan said, claiming that STG Resources had already signed up some 30 merchants that allowed existing Steven’s Tea Garden members to redeem their food points.

When contacted, STG Resources CEO Mick Yap said the case was being handled by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong and declined to comment.
He only said that solutions had been found but the plan was a business failure.

However, Chong said he would not interfere as it had already been exposed by the media.
“The company representatives had told me there was a rescue plan, and all parties agreed to keep it out of the media.

“However, because the investors also went to see Fong (Kui Lun), the issue attracted publicity and I want to leave it to the police to investigate,” Chong said.

“We had three meetings with them and STG Resources showed us its 2008 internal audit report, but my lawyers have demanded the 2009 accounts, which the company said it would furnish by March.

“The company told me it could have run away but did not as it was prepared to face the music if found guilty,” Chong said.

(* Names have been changed to protect identities.)

the star

塞車竟不收垃圾‧何清園批發城變垃圾城

（吉隆坡）阿南弗拉以交通阻塞為由，不來收垃圾，讓何清園時裝批發城變為垃圾城！

馬來西亞時裝進出口批發商公會會長拿督洪細弟指出，在過去一週內，原本每天早上9時許就會到何清園收取垃圾的阿南弗拉不見蹤影，導致商店後巷堆積垃圾，商家被迫聞臭度日。

他補充，當公會和其他業者致電阿南弗拉詢問沒有來收取垃圾的原因時，得到的回覆居然是此處交通阻塞，所以阿南弗拉員工不願到此處收取垃圾。

因此，洪細弟尋求武吉免登國會議員方貴倫的協助來解決問題時，也呼吁商家和公會互相配合，不要把垃圾丟棄在其他業者的門口外，也應該把垃圾打包好才丟，以免有礙市容。

洪細弟是週五（1月8日）聯同方貴倫視察此區垃圾情況時，發表談話。在場者有吉隆坡中馬洋貨布匹服裝出入口商會副會長廖進樑、馬來西亞時裝批發商公會副會長黃錫琦、馬來西亞時裝進出口批發商公會秘書長陳炳森、執行秘書陳志評和外交主任邱錦生等。

年關近塞車更嚴重

洪細弟表示，何清園時裝批發城提供本地商家和外國商家採購服裝的便利，交通阻塞也是司空見慣的問題，惟隨著年關將近，所以塞車情況也更為嚴重。可是若阿南弗拉以交通阻塞為由而不到來收取垃圾，相信會影響何清園商家的運作。

“由於垃圾堆積和發出陣陣臭味，也吸引了老鼠在此處出沒，這些老鼠的體型都不小，常常在傍晚時分橫行何清園，嚇壞路人。”

可要求商家自備垃圾桶

他說，由於何清園商家一向沒有自備垃圾桶的習慣，因此他希望吉隆坡市政局可以發信要求商家自備垃圾桶，讓業者把有關垃圾桶置放在後巷，方便阿南弗拉收取垃圾。

他也要求阿南弗拉在何清園範圍內每條道路置放一個垃圾槽，讓商家集中丟棄垃圾的地方和避免垃圾堆積的問題。

方貴倫在瞭解何清園垃圾問題後，他不認同阿南弗拉以交通阻塞為由而不到何清園收取垃圾，但為了有效解決垃圾問題，他除了要求阿南弗拉重新調整收取何清園垃圾的時間外，也會在下週安排對話，以儘快解決問題。

安排對話解決問題

“阿南弗拉連續一週不來收取垃圾，已讓此區垃圾發出臭味，影響環境衛生，破壞何清園的形象。”

他說，由於市政局在2010年財政預算案中撥款2億3665萬進行城市化服務，既包括固體廢料管理，所以希望阿南弗拉在這方面可以提供有素質的服務，打造衛生城市。

星洲日報／大都會‧2010.01.08