Malaysian Bar criminal law committee member Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu said it was a case of the association taking the law into its own hands.
“There should be proper procedure for consumer groups to address the situation, such as to pass a memorandum to the authorities for the next course of action instead of carrying out its own raid,” he said.
Baljit called for action to be taken against the group to send a clear message to others that such an act should not be condoned.
“They should respect the law ... you take the law into your own hands, you have to pay the price,” he said.
He said the case should be investigated under Section 505 of the Penal Code where the penalty is two years’ jail, a fine or both.
Another lawyer, Haijan Omar, agreed that issues on consumer rights should be channeled to the relevant enforcement agencies such as the Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Ministry.
“The authorities must then take action,” he said. “Barging into a business outlet in a group is intimidation. Demanding refunds (in such a manner) seems more like extortion, in my opinion.”
Lawyer Yusmadi Yusoff said consumer activists were allowed to carry out their duties but not to extent of taking the law into their own hands.
He said the action by Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia reflected the failure of government policies and the observance of law and order.
“The association should be given an opportunity to build its reputation as good consumer activists. We can’t blame them entirely. The traders should have been more ethical when it comes to business,” he said.
It was reported the association conducted a raid of its own at the mobile store and allegedly grabbed almost RM12,000 from the sellers as “compensation”.
“The government should look into this matter in depth, and think why people are complaining to PPIM and not the relevant authorities,” Yusmadi said.
Lawyer Syahredzan Johan called the raid an act of vigilantism. “If they raid a shopping mall they may be trespassing on private property, if they seize goods which they claim are counterfeit, they may unlawfully taking property belonging to another without permission,” he said.
Syahredzan said such actions could be criminal in nature and also attract civil tort action by those aggrieved.
“An investigation should be opened against them. I am not normally in favour of state intervention but we can’t let people act with impunity when they have no legal sanction to do so,” he said.
By Puteri Sabira Ab Ghani
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