I refer to the report Pos Malaysia to clear confusion over new rates which quotes the Energy, Water and Communications Deputy Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor as having stated 'the correct information did not reach the people'.

It is obvious that he himself is not very clear what the problem is. He merely states what has been repeated before when announcing the new postal rates and reveals nothing new to throw light on the problem.

He states '... the 30 sen postage would remain for standard letters which met the requirements of the new classification'. He doesn't say why that classification insists that the envelope has to be 'non-glossy paper of white colour' to be considered as standard mail.

Why can't the cheaper brown envelopes of similar size be accepted as standard mail? Why was the cheaper 'printed matter' category discontinued? Why are 'open-ended' postal wrappers or jackets no longer acceptable for printed matter?

If he cares to know the truth, it is not only the public that is confused. The postal staff are equally confused. We were told by a certain postal staff that a briefing was held for 400 members of the postal staff on Feb 22 at Kepala Batas - six days before the implementation date on March 1.

According to him, even the experts who came for the briefing were themselves unable to answer the questions raised or provide satisfactory clarifications.

Shaziman does not understand the problem. He states that '... companies have until May 31 to clear their old stock of personalised envelopes'.

Is he really unaware that companies, unions, co-operatives, consumer bodies, environmental groups and NGOs print personalised envelopes in bulk to last them two to three years? It is cheaper to print in bulk. How will they clear their stock by May 31?

Aliran, for example, has 40,000 open-ended wrappers to despatch our Aliran Monthly. It is impossible for us to clear the stock by May 31. And why should we be forced to discard this stock? Will Pos Malaysia compensate us for this?

We have raised many other questions and highlighted the problems regarding this issue before. But unfortunately, the media did not bother to carry this information. It would appear that they are not interested in highlighting the people's problems.

Why did the government allow Pos Malaysia to rush through this exercise so hastily? This cannot be the work of a caring government - or can it?

Malaysians deserve honest answers.

The writer is the president of Aliran.