PETALING JAYA, Aug 8 — Malaysia has made considerable progress in transforming its postal service industry—both the legal and regulatory framework—since the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) took over the regulatory functions in 2001.

The postal transformation is necessary as the industry’s landscape and dynamics has changed as e-commerce is becoming a new growth engine for the industry.

MCMC Postal and E-Commerce Division senior director Mohamed Zaidi Abdul Karim said one of the most significant steps forward was the passing of the Postal Services Act (PSA) 2012 which provided for the licensing and regulation of the postal and courier service.

“Among others, our aim is to promote a high level of consumer confidence in service delivery,’’ he said, adding that the key to this was to ensure letters and packages were delivered as hoped.

He said as part of their initiative to improve the service, MCMC had recognised the difficulties faced by the rural communities in Sarawak and Sabah.

“So we started a community postmen service in the rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak. A representative is selected from each community of the small towns in the two states who is familiar with the area and the community,” he said, adding that there are currently 450 community postmen.

Among the key features of the new legislation is to establish a licensing system for the provisioning of postal service in the country.

“This means anybody who provides postal service, either collection, transmission and delivery of postal articles below two kilogrammes in any mode of transportation will be required to have licence, and as to date MCMC in addition to Pos Malaysia has licensed more than 100 courier operators nationwide “ said Mohamed Zaidi.

Another key feature in the PSA2012 is protecting the interest of postal users.

“We are also tasked to safeguard the interest of consumers in respect of rates, the continuity of service and the quality of the service provided,” he said.

Mohd Zaidi said MCMC was also tasked under the PSA2012 to promote development in the area of postcode and addressing system. Malaysia currently has more than eight million addresses nationwide and the number is growing in line with the country’s development. Since a good addressing system is an important infrastructure for a community, MCMC together with Pos Malaysia has embarked on the “Address for All” initiative which will benefit 200,000 premises without house numbers by 2020 especially in rural areas.