Bank customers nowadays are of the view that banks cannot be of any service to their customers any more. It is not that they cannot be of service, but they are not meant to be of service.

This is the sad state of banks in this country today. Please take note of the following.

Banks have merged among themselves basically to strengthen themselves financially - not to serve their customers in any better fashion whatsoever. For instance, a customer can maintain a current account with a high balance. Yet, they get zero interest on their balance.

When they want to withdraw money, they have to have a cheque leaf for which they are charged a fee. Of late, every time a customer needs to withdraw his own money at the counter using his own cheque, which he has already paid for, he is still charged a fee.

I consider this to be daylight robbery. Yet the government allows this robbery. If a customer needs to check his own balance, he is also charged a fee. The bank refuses to help the customer.

Sometimes there could be bank charges or delays in auto credits from the same bank which the customer is unaware of. This is of no concern to the banks. It is as if they are no longer human.

Sometimes there can be delays on cheque deposit clearances. The banks never bother to explain such delays as they feel it is not their business.

Gone are those days when a bank manager would have some authority to authorise cheques based on the customer's past history, his status or his character. Now banks have withdrawn all such authority from bank managers.

Another matter is the gross violation of the Banking Secrecy Act. To my mind and understanding, this act is to provide protection to bank customers. Most regrettably, this has been seriously breached by bankers to the extent of criminality.

When does the Banking Secrecy Act start and when does it end (as far as the bank customer is concerned)? To my mind it starts when someone becomes a customer of a bank. But regrettably, it ends almost immediately.

Let me explain. If we call the bank to check our balance and if the bank officer is busy, he or she would tell us that one of them would call back. True, for on many occasions I have had the displeasure of my balance being told to any one of my staff when the officer returned my call.

And if we look at the newspapers, we will see hundreds and hundreds of names of borrowers who have been sued by the banks. I consider this a serious violation of the Banking Secrecy Act.

The act begins to exert its authority the day a customer opens a bank account. It does not end the day he takes a facility from the same bank. Bear in mind that banks don't give facilities to customers overnight. They study the customer over a period of time.

Should at any one time the customer fail to be regular in his repayments or should be unable to pay his debts, the bank does not have the right to waive the authority of the Banking Secrecy Act against that customer.

But this is happening and we see are blatant violations and breaches of this Act with the daily publication of the identity of borrowers, the amount they borrowed, their identity card number and other relevant details.

What then has happened to the Banking Secrecy Act? Is the act so enveloped with conditions that it becomes void the day the customer fails to service his loan? If so, then something is not right. Is the act shrouded with dishonesty for the pleasure of the bankers?

Another point is the outsourcing of customer information. It is common to find strangers from private companies calling up bank customers and reminding them of payments. They know our identity card number, our addresses, our telephone numbers, our account numbers etc.

These are extremely personal matters and nobody has the right to this information except authorised persons. If we ask the these callers for their name and identity card number, or even their telephone numbers, they refuse and instead merely say that they are calling from an outsourcing company on behalf of the bank and therefore have been authorised to call.

This again is a serious violation of customer rights as enshrined by the Banking Secrecy Act. Banks seem to act as they please. Why is this so? Because nobody protects the consumer. Banks are the Goliaths who continue to receive protection from the government.

Our nation's current social development harbours insidious evolutionary forces which propel us toward the creation of a society that advocates the utter destruction of privacy and the individual's complete exposure to the all-seeing, all-powerful banking institution.

Our age is one of shriveled privacy. Violation of the Banking Secrecy Act is deemed a criminal offence. These acts must cease with immediate effect and the government must create mandatory laws enforcing the rights of bank services consumers.

Is there an absence of such rights in Malaysia to protect the interests of customers of banks? If there indeed is such absence, then there is an urgent need for parliamentary intervention. If there are such laws to protect customers, but they are un-enforced, then there is urgent need for investigation and perhaps a high-level commission of inquiry.

The banks themselves don't seem to be too bothered as they are heavily protected by our Bank Negara. This protection seems to be heavily tilted against the interests of consumers.

If you have a problem or a complaint against a bank and if you raise it with Bank Negara, it is often found that our central bank would come to the defence of the bank, leaving the consumer to suffer.

Another concern is the cosy nexus between bankers and lawyers. Bankers are often seen to be fond of resorting to legal action by pushing files to their favourite lawyers. Lawyers make money in the process. Big money.

Lawyers don't encourage bankers to negotiate with their customers for amicable settlements as this would mean no income for them (the lawyers). This is a sickening truth. It is time for the government to blacklist banks and withdraw their licences. The country doesn't need such banks.

It is time that the government make an in-depth study of the Malaysian banking industry. It is time we study the history behind the banking industry, its aims and objectives, its role towards nation-building, its role in the human development, business and financial well-being of the population.

Ever wondered why loan sharks have thrived over the last few years? It's because loan sharks knew the time was right. Banks had become arrogant, disrespectful and disinterested in assisting customers besides being generally customer-unfriendly.

But loan sharks have thrived even though their activities are accompanied by reports of murders, assaults and other forms of violent action against poor paymasters. In fact, loan sharking has become such a thriving business that it is openly advertised.

It is shameful that what the banks could not do, the loan sharks have done.

I call upon the prime minister to intervene immediately and do what is needed against the unfair and inhuman practices of the Malaysian banking industry. This is extremely urgent, before the public loses confidence in the banking industry and adopts alternative means of managing their financial matters.