The Incomparable Creativeness of the Corrupt

The Malaysian government has a scheme that allows citizens to use their EPF (compulsory savings equivalent to CPF in Singapore, if you discount the abuses done with it) money to buy personal computers. The official reason was to encourage the use of IT in the country. However, citizens can only buy their PCs through government approved sellers. Below is a sample of the real story behind the 'scheme' - an entry by a Malaysian in a discussion forum in The Star's (a local newspaper) website - another way for someone to make money out of the unwitting.

It reminded me of similar reports from Indonesia before 1997. The Indonesian education ministry actually considered implementing a ruling that each school-going child should visit a particular new theme park at least once in their school life. Such visits were supposedly good for the education of the kids and would cost more than US$10 per entry. Of course, the facts that the theme park was built by someone well connected with the corrupt government, and the poorest Indonesian families earned not much more than US$10 a month were irrelevant. Another recommendation considered by the ministry was that each school child should only wear school shoes of a particular make. Not clear what educational value shoes of that particular make would give but they were produced by a company linked to one of the President's sons. What an education the whole country got in 1997. It is sad to think that a government could do such things to its own citizens and get away with it for so long. May be for some it is as easy to live with lies as it is to lie to live.

The Malaysian's story below....

I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience with regards to this topic.

I have ordered a PC through one of Pos Malaysia's official vendor, HK COMP TECHNOLOGY SDN. BHD. (thereafter refered to as HK COMP) based on their broucher :- PIII 933Mhz, 64MB SDRAM, ASUS CUV4X Motherboard, Aztech Q3D 64Bit Sound Card, 2000W Subwoofer Speaker system and 17" Colour Monitor worth RM3450/=.

After nearly two months I eagerly received my PC from Pos Malaysia. To my suprise there was no 2000W Subwoofer speaker system. Instead there was only a 600W speaker system (no subwoofer). Of course I immediately called the HK COMP to inquire about the difference. They simply said that they have no stock at the moment and will exchange it for me when there's stock. What displeased me the most was the attitude of HK COMP of not informing me first before they delivered the PC. Won't you feel cheated? That's not all.

Then I discovered the sound card supplied was also different. Instead of the Aztech sound card it was a cheap CMedia sound card (cost about RM38 - I checked). Hey what's going on? When inquired, HK COMP just simply said that the CMedia sound card is the same as the Aztech sound card. What kind of excuse is that? Just because a Kancil has 4 tyres and 4 doors, does it make it the same as a Waja? What do they take me for? After much scolding they promised to send the 2000W Subwoofer speaker system and change the sound card FOC.

After using the 2000w subwoofer speaker system, I found that one of the speaker was not working properly. So I brought it back to their office to exchange it for a new one since it's still under warranty. As one of the staff brought out a supposely new speaker, I asked them whether was it new? Yes was the reply. Then I requested for it to be tested first. As they took it out of the box I noticed that it seems to have wear and tear marks on it. Hmmm... is it really new I asked. True enough, after testing it, one of the speaker was not working at all. After further inspection I can confirm that it has been used for quite sometime and most probably someone returned it and now they are trying to pass it off as NEW. Clearly unhappy I questioned their integrity and they have nothing to say. They proceeded to ignore me trying to be busy with other things. Out of frustation I just took one of the working (but USED) speaker and walked out.

I thought that was the end of my problems. Now comes the most shocking part. I discovered that the Motherboard supplied was also different from what was agreed. They gave me a ASUS CUV4X-C m/board instead of a ASUS CUV4X m/board. After comparing through the internet, the CUV4X-C has only 2 DIMM slots compared to 3 DIMM slots on the CUV4X. I haven't bombared HK COMP yet since it's the weekend. I would definately ask them to change it for FOC at my house or ask for a refund.

Now, what if I'm a new PC user. Do you think I would notice these things? NO WAY!

The questions is how are Pos Malaysia and Odasaja going to make sure that their vendors supply what they promised to the buyers and don't get shortchanged and cheated on the not so obvious parts of the PC? I feel that this is and issue of most utmost importance since we are at the mercy of the EPF PC scheme and we cannot change or choose what we need or desire. I know the reason Pos Malaysia got the rights to supply PC's because the government wanted to stop some unscruplous buyers from withdrawing their EPF money with no intention of buying PC's.

But now it seems that the plan has backfired. Now it's the vendor that is in the position to cheat and shortchange the customers. Please be wary of this and make sure that you throughly check what you are getting. I'm going to lodge a complain with the relevant authorities and warn everyone I know about the dishonesty of HK COMP. I hope that other vendors are more honest.