Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Weak consumer protection in Singapore

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Weak consumer protection in Singapore

The legal system in Singapore benefits the lawyers and business corporations that can afford lawyers. Consumers are badly treated in Singapore and they do not have redress. This leads to poor social justice in Singapore.

Here are the legal systems in other countries that have protection for consumers:

a) In USA, they allow lawyers to act on contingency fee. If the consumer has a strong case, the lawyers are willing to take up the case (and incur the risk of losing the case) to help the consumer to seek redress. They usually take 30% of the damages, but they will not act for a frivolous case as they waste their time. The court will not require the litigant (usually the consumer) who loses the case to bear the legal cost of the defendant (usually the business corporation).

b) In the UK, the Legal Aid Bureau will engage the lawyer to fight for the consumer (but perhaps only for cases with merit). The bureau pays the legal fees, and not the consumer.

Most countries have agencies that fight strongly to protect the consumer rights. In the USA, the attorney generals (employed by the government) will take up cases on behalf of consumers, if they consider that consumers have been cheated. Their legislature (or Parliament) has law makers who spend time to look into these matters. The attorney general and legislators know that they are accountable to the people.

The situation in Singapore is bad for consumers. Even if consumers have a strong case, they are afraid to take it up as the legal fees are exorbitant. They are also worried that, if they lose the case, they will have to pay the legal fees of the big corporations (and these are even more exorbitant). Consequently, when consumers are badly treated and are ripped off, they can only suffer in silence. Such is the state of social justice in Singapore.

Business corporations are imposing excessive charges and selling bad products to consumers - with impunity. They know that consumers (except the multi-millionaires) cannot afford to take them to court. Our MPs are too busy to take up these matters in Parliament.

I hope that the next general election will produce a different kind of political system in Singapore and that the weakness in the legal system can be addressed.

Tan Kin Lian

6 comments:

Tan Kin Lian said...: Someone made this observation previously. The legal system in Singapore will not change because too many of our MPs are lawyers or have family members who are lawyers. So, there is some conflict of interest.

Wow - this is bad!; February 02, 2011 8:38 AM
spavic said...: there is also a feeling that if you are complaining about some bad customer service or your loss of a few dollars in some service or product, you are making a big fuss and you cannot afford the loss (in chinese - cannot lose, su bu qi).

singaporeans still want face. anything bad, they scare lose face.

this fear of losing face makes many girls remaining single and many men remaining single.; February 02, 2011 8:44 PM
Vincent Sear said...: I don't think it's about lawyers in Parliament of Singapore. Every legislature around the world has its fair share of lawyers as lawyers naturally gravitate towards politics by their training.

I think it's about the mindset of those in power, whether lawyers or not. I think the most protected and privileged professionals in Singapore are the doctors.; February 04, 2011 6:04 PM
philip said...: philip said...
Indeed a very sad situation in Singapore - an imbalanced emphasis for material possession neglecting the soul.

Feb 1 newspaper headline: "Seeking a new generation of David Marshalls"

- calling on lawyers to emulate the example by the late honourable Mr David Marshall who unwaveringly placed societal interest above self financial interest, stood tall resisted the temptation enslaving under the beck and calls of the powerful corporate rich.

February 02, 2011 10:55 AM; February 04, 2011 10:46 PM
consumerdaddy said...: Hi friends,

Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia follow a similar legal system. Laws are passed to balance the rights of consumers and businesses. The aim is to provide an environment that businesses can innovate to improve their products and services and make a profit, and, at the same time, ensure that consumers are fairly treated. Thanks a lot! Keep it up!
Customer Complaint; February 05, 2011 10:45 AM
Ramesh said...: I completely agree with Vincent Sear's comment. Thanks for such a nice blog post. Keep sharing.; October 04, 2011 10:31 AM