Who are we

CAP is a grass-roots non-profit, non-governmental organisation registered as a society with the Registrar of Societies, Malaysia since 1970. Through the years, the scope of CAP’s concerns has expanded from matters of daily living such as product price and quality to more complex problems of meeting basic human needs, saving the environment from further deterioration, safeguarding human health, advocating for food security and sustainable livelihoods.

Our activities

CAP has also been actively engaging in human development activities through education, training, capacity building, community based programmes, women’s empowerment, and in advocating a form of development, lifestyle and culture which is ecologically sustainable. As a defender of consumer rights and interests, CAP organises community awareness campaigns on a broad spectrum of consumer, health, social, economy and environment issues that involves research, education, capacity building, organising and media work.

In carrying out its activities, CAP reaches out to a wide range of people in the Malaysian society including rural communities such as farmers, fishermen, plantation workers, squatters, urban consumers, teachers, school children, university students, women youth and religious bodies. CAP publishes an extensive range of educational materials such as the popular bimonthly consumer newspaper “Utusan Konsumer”, pamphlets used in life-skill training courses and books in four languages. Though based in Penang, CAP’s outreach activities cover the whole of Malaysia.

Our vision

Giving a voice to the little people – that is the objective of the Consumers’ Association of Penang. And that’s what we have been doing since our establishment in 1970.

CAP is a consumer organisation with a difference. Fighting for fair prices and good quality products and services is just one of our many activities. Our main concern is ensuring the right of every consumer to basic needs such as food, housing, health care, sanitation facilities, public transport, education and a clean environment. We want to encourage within the people – especially the poor whose needs often go unnoticed – the spirit and the confidence to represent their case to government, to the public and to the private companies that oppress them.

Through research, educational and representational activities, we hope to influence people at all levels: so that policy makers in government look at how their development policies affect ordinary people, and give priority to basic needs; so that ordinary people think more critically and have the strength to resist trends and practices (e.g.: smoking, gambling) that can only make their lives more deprived.

Our mission

To promote and strive for a more ecologically sound and socially just society.

Objectives

• To educate consumers, balance consumer needs and degree of protection and to provide relevant consumer rights and entitlements.
• To advice individual consumers and protect their rights.
• To ensure prices of goods are fair and appropriate with relevance to its quality and value.
• To work with the existing laws in order to protect consumer’s interest and general health.
• To encourage the involvement of society and citizens (consumers) in the consideration, standardisation and basic provision of their rights.
• To work towards ensuring production of high quality products.
• To study the fluctuations in the market with regards to the factors affecting it, and to advice or make suggestions to the ministry and organisations involved in the business and commercial sectors.
• To carry out activities such as the publication of bulletins and ceiling price lists, as well as forming market organisations and consumer clubs.

Consumers Association Of Penang (CAP)