Breaking Touch 'n Go's Monopoly Will Create Healthy Competition - Expert

The government's proposal to end Touch 'n Go's (TNG) monopoly in the public transportation fare and toll collection payment system has been characterized as a rational move to foster healthy competition and provide users with more options. Associate Professor Dr Aimi Zulhazmi Abdul Rashid of Universiti Kuala Lumpur's (UniKL) business school said having more service providers besides TNG is welcome, and he expects the move to relieve congestion at toll plazas. "Having competition will help improve TNG's quality of services itself because healthy competition will have a positive effect on stakeholders.

"This will provide many benefits to users, such as competitive, cheaper, and more effective services," he told Bernama. In response to a question from a participant at the 'Meet Anwar' dialogue at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Sunday (March 19), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government will review TNG's monopoly in public transportation and toll payment system. The Anwar Ibrahim Club organized the dialogue, which was moderated by celebrity Amelia Henderson and attended by over 5,000 youths who used the opportunity to question the prime minister on a variety of issues. Prof Aimi Zulhazmi's views were echoed by Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff, the director of Putra Business School's Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme, who stated that companies that monopolize businesses tend to charge more than they should.  

Although toll rates are set by the government, he claims TNG's services are inadequate, particularly its Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) toll payment system. "Users have no choice, so these monopoly companies take advantage, for example, by selling TNG cards and RFID tags at high prices," he explained. He believes that implementing a system that accepts various forms of payment is the best way to address the issue. "... many have ideas about this matter, but what is important is that the government looks into all of these ideas in depth and implements them without any more monopolies because one of the goals is to give consumers more choices," he said.

According to Prof Dr Haslinda Abdullah, director of the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Institute for Social Science Studies, the decision to review TNG's monopoly will only have an impact if it has a direct impact on users. "The interests of these users, if given focus, will have a very positive impact on the current government, but the decision must also take into account past agreements so that losses on the part of the government can be minimized," she said.