The Consumers’ Foundation (消基會) yesterday gave President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his team a big thumbs-down for failing to safeguard consumers’ rights on the eve of the administration’s first year in office.
The foundation said that since Ma came into office in May last year, it has received an overwhelming number of calls from consumers complaining about price surges and the government’s incompetence in stabilizing the market by not hunting down businesses that hoard commodities.
Rampant disputes between bankrupt corporations and customers, rising tuition fees and rows over cram schools’ unfair no-refund policies, the questionable effectiveness of the electronic toll-collection system and the government’s overall apathy toward consumers’ rights were the principal reasons why the foundation gave the administration a failing grade.
Soundation secretary-general Gaston Wu (吳家誠) said that despite incessant complaints from the public regarding dishonest vendors who artificially increase prices by hoarding goods, the government had not tackled the root of the problem.
“The government has become stagnant to the point that it is only resolving one individual dispute at a time without getting to the bottom of the matter,” Wu said, adding that many people have had no choice but to report to the foundation — a non-governmental organization — because their woes tended to fall on deaf ears when they complained to the government.
Chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said that while the government was working to stimulate the economy, it should also be mindful of consumers’ rights.
The foundation is also concerned about the government’s proposal to dissolve by 2011 the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), an independent agency under the Executive Yuan as part of the government’s plan to streamline its structure.
The foundation said that it feared such a move was a sign that the government would pay less attention to consumers’ rights.
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