I refer to the letter ASM shares: Maybank so lame .

The following happened when I queued in front of the unopened door of Maybank Bandar Rawang in the early morning hours of April 27, 2009.

1. Existing ASM/ASW account holders were given preference over would-be account holders. The bank assistant manager's response to my query was that it took only three minutes to make a deposit as opposed to opening a new account which took 10 minutes.

How does this help the distribution of wealth or help PNB get as many of the rakyat as customers? Looks like the rich become richer at the expense of the have-nots.

Is it not also the responsibility of Maybank (a government-linked company at that) to practise CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in assisting the government to maximise the ASM/ASW customer base instead of focusing on their commission?

In the future, will customers with RM20,000 be prioritised over those with only RM1,000? PNB Customer Care personnel told me all agents were instructed to treat all customers equally.

2. Many ‘well-connected' customers who came in later than me and who did not queue and were without queue numbers went straight to the counter to have their ASW stuff done.

3. Many of those customers even told me that they had left their documents with the bank staff to be collected the next day .

4. One teller was seen processing a two-inch thick stack of ASW application forms with no customers being called and no customer at the counter. When queried, I was told it was for ‘Private Banking Customers'.

Do ‘Private Banking Customers' have such a privilege that they do not need to be even present to buy ASW shares? I know of ‘Phone Banking' and ‘Internet Banking'. But ‘Remote Control Banking' is something new to me!

My suggestions to PNB:

1. Open the sale of any share issue initially for only new accounts. This will ensure a wider unit-holder base. At a later date, the remaining balance of units can be opened to existing account holders only (excluding those who had just opened their accounts).

2. PNB should monitor the number of new accounts versus deposits by agents and remunerate accordingly

3. PNB should make customers aware of their rights. This is important as most often, the very people who fail to get these ASM/ASW shares are those who are not so well-connected, not so aware and do not know who to complain when they are sidestepped by others.

Posters outlining the people's rights with avenues for reporting grievances should be placed strategically at all agents' premises during the sale.

The pervasiveness of cronyism, nepotism and blatant abuse of position and power is very clear. This is nothing short of corruption. Period. Maybe the MACC would like to monitor the next sale of ASM/ASW shares?