Tribunal for consumer claims: a critical study of the consumer redressal mechanism / Mohd. Yunus Mohd Suhaimi and Mohammed Heikal Ismail

The last two semesters had been dedicated to conduct a critical research on the mechanism of The Malaysian Tribunal for Consumer Claims. This is relevant as it is one of the mediums to protect the rights of consumers and to ensure justice when dealing between them and the traders. The research was done with the objective to find out the effectiveness and efficiency of its mechanism. The research concentrated in detail on the procedural aspects of the mechanism and several other issues relating to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, such as the status of 'software' as goods under the Consumer Protection Act 1999. We have conducted interview sessions with the Chairman of the Tribunal in assisting us to understand the mechanism of the Tribunal. The interview benefited us a lot as the clarification and most of his suggestions were relevant for this research. Besides, we have distributed questionnaires to the public at large to analyze whether they were aware of the existence of the Tribunal and the issue of consumerism. The outcome of the questionnaires was as we had expected. Some of the members of the public are still unaware of its existence. Our research also was based on various literature such as books, newspaper articles and materials collected through the internet.