Paying with one-sen coins is okay – up to RM2

PENANG: It may be cumbersome to count 200 pieces of one sen coins when a customer is paying for an item that costs RM2. But the receiver cannot refuse the money.
If you prefer to pay for a RM10 product in 50 sen coins, the seller also cannot reject the payment.

It was provided for under Section 24 of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act that you can use one sen, five sen, 10 sen and 20 sen coins to pay for a transaction of up to RM2, a Bank Negara official said. The Act also allows a buyer to pay for a product or service worth up to RM10 in 50 sen coins.

“You can use the coins up to the stated limit and the recipients should not reject them,” the official said. She was commenting on an e-mail complaint to The Star by sales and marketing executive Eddie Lim that a drink stall attendant in Tanjung Bungah had refused to accept the two pieces of five sen coins that he wanted to use to pay for a drink.

Legal tender: Under the Central Bank of Malaysia Act, a seller cannot reject payment comprising one sen, five sen, 10 sen or 20 sen coins for a transaction of up to RM2.State Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs committee chairman Lau Chiek Tuan agreed that traders should accept the small coins for the limited amount.

“The one sen and five sen coins are legal tender; it should be okay for the consumer to use them,” he said. A check by The Star showed that such coins are accepted at most retail outlets, especially in fast food outlets, shopping centres and supermarkets.

Federation of Hawker Penang chairman Lam Tong Ying said most hawkers were more than happy to collect the coins from customers. “The one sen and five sen coins come in handy for payment of electricity and water bills and also for shopping,” he said.

Aeon Co (M) Bhd public relations manager Shirly Chan said the company’s chain of Jusco supermarkets provide one sen coins for customers at each counter. "It was at their suggestion and for their own convenience that we provide the one sen coins,” she said.

Source : The Star