If you thought the fine of RM415.5 million imposed on five poultry feed millers would curb cartels and cartel-like behaviour in the country, you need to think again.
The poultry feed millers may be shocked into inaction, but others are quickly taking their place. To complete the poultry picture, all five feed millers have appealed and it is to be heard by the Competition Appeal Board in February and March.
Malaysia is, sorry to say, a cartel land of not just the big gangs but small ones, too, of school buses, childcare centres and some such things. Who would have thought that the affable guy behind the wheels of the school bus of your child was colluding with drivers in his association to hike the fare? What you see is not what you get, at least when it comes to commerce.
To the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC), big or small, cartels are on its watch list. This notwithstanding, they are growing bolder by taking to mainstream media and social media, such as Facebook, to announce price hikes and additional charges to come.
Don't they know that they are under the watch of MyCC? They do. As MyCC's chief executive officer, Iskandar Ismail, says they have been warned, in every size the cartels come dressed in. But a bold act must be met with bolder punishment.
The warning issued by the MyCC, as was done on Saturday in a press statement, may be interpreted by some cartels as mere warning, but the competition agency has already opened "several investigation papers against associations, their committee members and members suspected of engaging in cartel-like activities".
Iskandar declined to provide how many "several" meant. For the moment, we shall take it to mean more than two but not many. Perhaps MyCC doesn't want the mafia merchants to metamorphose into hard to detect crass commerce.
Some may think that MyCC is viewing the act of the association members within the narrow confines of anticompetitive behaviour and seek to push it to cast the net wider, say economic sabotage. That is the next change when the amendments happen next year.
While the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry can't fine businesses for economic sabotage, it can go, unlike MyCC, beyond anticompetitive behaviour. But one thing needs to be said here. Consumers, often fleeced by profiteering businesses, reserve their animus for MyCC. The hostility is understandable, but wrongly directed.
MyCC can only do what the Competition Act 2010 (CA 2010) permits. Besides, the CA 2010 clearly spells out where it mustn't tread. We name them in order of consumer aversion, perhaps: commercial activities such communications and multimedia, aviation services, energy and upstream petroleum operations.
The reason: they have their regulatory bodies. That is where the animus should be heading, and deservedly so. One thing is for sure, the regulators are not doing enough to curb cartel-like collusion.
The ministry, too, must regulate more robustly. It mustn't forget that lodged firmly in its name is "cost of living", a reminder of its national duty to keep prices of goods and services affordable.
Regulating robustly means taking preemptive measures, not waiting to spring into action after complaints come flooding in.