Law in place to check monopolies

MYCC staff Nazatul Fareeza Saadon holding the book of Launch of the Competition Act 2010 A Guide for Business by Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives & Consumerism Dato Hasan Bin Malek at The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.(2/09/2013/S.S.KANESAN/The Star)

THE Government’s recent an­nouncement that Bernas’ monopoly to import rice would end soon and that other monopolies would also be reviewed was good news.

Following this was the revelation that the pharmaceutical industry has long been manipulated and that bid-rigging was a norm in the industry. This has come as no surprise to me personally because during my tenure as CEO of The Competition Commission (MyCC), there were many complaints from the smaller pharmaceutical companies on issues of high pricing and dominant companies arm-twisting the smaller ones.