THE federal government must admit to its weaknesses in properly explaining changes to the six-month moratorium offered on hire purchase (HP) and fixed-rate Islamic financing loans, said Shahrir Sufian Hamdan.

The Umno information chief said the government should not be too defensive in addressing its shortcomings, nor should it blame the people for misconstruing the situation.

“It can’t be denied that the communications were not perfect. Even Bank Negara’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) had changes.

“Its original version did not mention the interest rates but now, it said interests can be compounded based on the bank’s discretion,” he said on Facebook.

He cited another miscommunication example in that the moratorium was first said to be automatic for all, but now, Bank Negara has introduced an opt-in option.

He also said the government has failed to explain, in simple terms, the operations of the moratorium.

He was referring to Bank Negara’s announcement yesterday that banks can charge customers additional interest on their hire purchase loans should they take up the offer of a six-month moratorium on repayment.

Following that, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) said customers would not be charged additional interest if they paid the accumulated six months’ deferred payments together with their October instalment.

This appeared to be a different stance than what was taken by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in March, when he announced the moratorium in support of government efforts to assist individuals, small and medium enterprises and corporations to manage the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The measures include a deferment of all loan/financing repayments for a period of six months, with effect from April 1.

This morning, Bank Negara today expressed regret that its announcement on the procedural change for the six-month moratorium for HP and fixed-rate Islamic financing has caused confusion.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Bank Negara should improve its communication with customers to avoid confusion.

He added that Bank Negara has an updated FAQs regarding the loan moratorium to clarify public confusion on the matter.

Shahrir also accused the opposition of playing a dirty political game by blaming the government for the miscommunication on the matter.

He said that when Bank Negara first announced the moratorium, the opposition had praised the central bank but were quick to attack the government instead with the latest development.

“Then they thronged to congratulate and praise Bank Negara, but today, when Bank Negara makes a miscommunication error, Pakatan Harapan blames the government 100%.

“This is a dirty political game.” – May 1, 2020.