ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
The Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCC) was established to provide an easier and a speedier mechanism for consumers to seek redress against the traders outside the court. The President of the TCC is allowed in section 107 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA) to assist parties in negotiating their settlement. However, the non-specification of the settlement method led to the wide discretion of the President in using whatever method they felt comfortable with, whereby sometimes this practice becomes too ambiguous. In acknowledging the possibility of a lack of consumers' awareness of the noble way to settle the dispute via alternative dispute resolution (ADR), this article investigates the usage of ADR at the pre-hearing stage. This study adopts the qualitative method where the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (Act 599), the Consumer Protection (the Tribunal for Consumer Claims) Regulations 1999 and related laws on some mediation practices in Malaysian Courts are critically analysed. A comparative study is made on the practice of the Singapore Small Claims Tribunal, where the Small Claims Tribunal Act 1984 and the Small Claims Tribunals (Amendment) Act 2018 are being analysed. The article proposed that the practice of mediation in the Singapore Small Claims Tribunal is practical for TCC to emulate since it shares the same ADR element of TCC of being simple, quicker and cheaper, apart from the fact that it is also in line with the practice of existing judicial institutions in Malaysia. It is hoped that the suggested framework will lead to a better implementation of ADR at the TCC and, consequently, improve the TCC's function as a better dispute resolution mechanism for consumers and, simultaneously, empower the consumers.
Statutes, Case Law and Practice Direction
Alex Nandaseri De Silva v. Sarath Wickrama Surendra. (2016). 7 Malayan Law Journal, 52-87
Consumer Protection Act. (1999)
Consumer Protection (the Tribunal for Consumer Claims) Regulations. (1999)
Mediation Act. (2012)
Practice Direction No. 4.(2016), Practice Direction on Mediation.
Rules of Court. (2012)
Small Claims Tribunals Act. (1984)
Small Claims Tribunals (Amendment) Act. (2018)
Books, Journal Articles and Other Sources
Amin, N., & Bakar, M. A. (2010). ADR for Consumers: An Appraisal of the Tribunal for Consumer Claims in Malaysia. In Mohamed Naqib Ishan Jan. & Ashgar Ali Ali Mohamed (Eds.). Mediation in Malaysia: The Law and Practice, (pp. 171-185). LexisNexis.
Tan, E. K. B. (2021). Singapore: National Report for the Global Access to Justice Project, Research Collection School of Law, Singapore Management University. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3722
Fakriah, E. L., & Afriana, A. (2019), The Existence of Small Claims Court in Settling Business Disputes in Indonesia: A Comparative Study with Singapore and the Netherlands. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. 10(4), 153-167. https://ijicc.net/images/Vol10iss4/10418_Fakhriah_2019_E_R.pdf.
Gramckow, H., & Ebeid, O. (2016). Establishing small claims courts and the impact on service delivery in the justice system. Just Development, 9, 1-4. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/363681467994719303/pdf/104145-BRI-PUBLIC-SERIES-JUST-DEVELOPMENT-21-3-2016-23-32-58-Just-Development-Note-February2016-Issue9.pdf.
Handayani, O., Riwanto, A., & Rahayu, P. (2021). The Annexation of The General Judiciary Against Consumer Dispute Resolution Agency. Yuridika, 36(1), 157–176. https://doi.org/10.20473/ydk.v36i1.21892
Ong, S. H. (2021). My say: Penang's justices of the peace are ready for a community mediation role. The Edge Markets. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/my-say-penangs-justices-peace-are-ready-community-mediation-role.
Ismail, R., & Osman, Z. (2019). Alternative Dispute Resolution Process in the Tribunal for Consumer Claims of Malaysia: A Way Forward. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 9(5), 342-351. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.1.2019.95.342.351
Jan, M. N. I. (2010). Alternative Dispute Resolution : Concept and Selected Processes. In Mohamed Naqib Ishan Jan. & Ashgar Ali Ali Mohamed (Eds.). Mediation in Malaysia: The Law and Practice, (pp.1-32). LexisNexis.
Ong, V. L. K. (2020). Court-Annexed Mediation — Myths and Misconceptions. Journal of the Malaysian Judiciary, 23-54 http://www.jac.gov.my/spk/en/judicial-academy/judicial-academy-report/publications/journal-of-the-malaysian-judiciary.html.
Low, H. B. (2010), Mediation: The Way Forward, Challenges and Solutions [Paper presentation]. Seminar on "The Navigation of Malaysian Mediation -Route to Resolution," Attorney General Chambers, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Rohman, M. A. P. (2019) Had tuntutan tribunal naik RM50,000 (“The Tribunal’s claim limit increased to RM50,000”). Berita Harian.
https://www.bharian.com.my/berita/nasional/2019/07/582574/had-tuntutan-tribunal-naik-rm50000.
Safei, S. (2009). Majlis Sulh (Islamic Mediation) in the Selangor Syariah Court and Malaysian Mediation Centre of the Bar Council: A Comparative Study. Malayan Law Journal, 5, Ixxxix-xc.
Safei, S. (2022). Legal Framework of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Tribunal for Consumer Claims in Malaysia [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
Singh, P. (2011). Providing Consumers an Efficacious, Simple, Inexpensive and Speedy Remedy—The Malaysian perspective. Malayan Law Journal, 3, 102-121
State Courts. (2020) Pre-filing Assessment.
https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/CJTS/#!/prefilingAssessment.
State Court. (2020) General Information.
https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/cws/SmallClaims/Pages/GeneralInformation.aspx.
States Court Singapore. (2020). Small Claims.
https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/cws/SmallClaims/Pages/GeneralInformation.aspx.
In-Text Citation: (Safei & Abdullah, 2022)
To Cite this Article: Safei, S., & Abdullah, N. C. (2022). Mediation as a Pre-trial Process at the Tribunal for Consumer Claims, Malaysia: The Way Forward. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(10), 3040–3050.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non0-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode