Media Statement By Violet Yong:
Despite Sarawak passing a law last year in this August House appointing Petros as the sole gas aggregator for all natural gas-related activities in the state, many Sarawakians are disappointed by Petros’s inefficiency, particularly its failure to facilitate the exchange of the Yellow gas cylinders for the Petros Red cylinders. This is the basic tasks, yet Petros had failed to deliver.
Many customers in Kuching and Sibu are still struggling to exchange their yellow gas cylinders for the mandatory Petros red ones despite the state government’s assurance given last year that the swap would be completed within six months.
Till today, the Sarawak government has taken a lackadaisical attitude towards solving this issue. There seems to be no effort from the State government to direct Petros to deal this matter with urgency. Petros dealers continues to claim that there are not enough tongs available for the exchange. Is Petros, the sole gas aggregator, only a title in name? How can there be insufficient red tongs available for the consumers to do the exchange?
This problem has persisted to the point where consumers had no choice but to seek assistance from their elected representatives. Isn’t Petros feel ashamed of their incompetence?
Allow me to guide this August House through the difficulties consumers face in trying to exchange a yellow gas cylinder.
On October 30, a consumer from Tabuan Dayak reached out to me for assistance in exchanging his yellow gas cylinder. I immediately called the Petros hotline at 1300-88-2122 at 10:39 a.m. The operator provided me with several contact numbers for Petros dealers whom under Petros’ record were supposedly servicing the area.
First I called ‘Petros LPG BCS Aviation SdnBhd’ three times at 10.44 am, 10.46 and 10.49 am but no one picked up the calls. So I tried again by making whatsapp call to the same number at 11 am. This time, an operator answered my call but informed that Tabuan Dayak is not within their service. She then directed me to contact ‘Petros LPG Min Soon’ instead.
As for Petros LPG JambhalaSdnBhd, I made a call at 10.45 am and the operator who answered immediately said that they do not service Tabuan Dayak area but Tabuan Jaya.
After failing to get any positive response from the two numbers given by Petros, I called Petros Hotline again at 10.50 am to inform the operator that the two numbers given by him were unhelpful at all.
This time, the operator requested me to hold the line while he searched for additional contact numbers. From that call, I was given with two more numbers, one for ‘Petros LPG Metro SdnBhd’ and another for ‘Petros LPG Pawada General trading’.
When I called Petros LPG Metro, a female operator initially answered, but as soon as she realized I was inquiring about the gas cylinder exchange, suddenly the call was cut off.
As for Petros LPG Pawada, no one answered the call.
At that point, I redial Petros LPG Min Soon’s number. Once again, there was no answer.
A minute later, Min Soon sent a WhatsApp message asking me to fill in a Yellow Cylinder Swap form. I assisted the customer from Tabuan Dayak in completing the form and submitted it. After submission, I received a message stating, “Once Petros has allocated us the cylinders, we will contact you for the exchange. At the moment, we have numerous customers in our waiting list.”
Until that moment, I refused to give up and sent a message to Pawada at 11:12 a.m., asking if Tabuan Dayak is within their service area. In response, I was given yet another number, with the message, “Boleh try contact no tok,” suggesting I try contacting that number instead.
Now, having heard all of this, what do you think? Isn’t this frustrating and exasperating?
I would like to suggest that the Sarawak Government insturct Petros to ensure there are sufficient red gas cylinders available at all dealers so consumers can easily exchange their yellow cylinders whenever needed. This would save consumers the hassle of running from dealer to dealerr, filling out Google swap forms, and being placed on waiting lists, only to exchange their cylinders at the dealers’ mercy.
We are aware that the Minister of Utilities and Telecommunications frequently goes on overseas study trips, spending millions of taxpayers’ money. It would be more meaningful if he dedicates some time to addressing and resolving this issue once and for all. What’s the point of all these trips if he can’t even solve a basic problem like this? From his replies given during his winding up speech for the Distribution of Gas (Amendment) Bill, he is obviously out of touch with the ground.
Why is Petros so reluctant to accept the yellow cylinders? After all, yellow is SUPP’s favorite color, and surely you’ve noticed that the Deputy Premier is often seen wearing yellow. Don’t tell me you have a problem with him just because he wears yellow! Embrace the yellow, accept the yellow cylinders, and exchange them for the Rocket Red!
