Noting the increase in online purchases and demand for delivery riders during the Covid-19 pandemic, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations president Marimuthu Nadason said the moratorium denied Malaysians an equal opportunity to earn a living.

“More people are purchasing online during the ‘new normal’, so you can’t give the big boys a monopoly. We should encourage more small players to come in. There may even be a courier company for regional logistics in Sabah or Sarawak.

“Let’s not go backwards. There have been many jobs lost and incomes cut due to Covid-19, so we shouldn’t have such restrictions,” he said.

On Monday, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced a two-year moratorium on the issuance of new courier service licences effective Sept 14, saying it was to allow the government and the postal and courier industry to formulate new plans to strengthen the sector which is faced with challenges such as technological change and market trends.

MCMC also said the move was in line with the call made in August by the Association of Malaysian Express Carriers, which represents 25 major courier companies in the country including Pos Malaysia Bhd, GD Express Sdn Bhd and City-Link Express (M) Sdn Bhd.

There are currently 109 courier service licence holders in various categories operating in Malaysia.

Consumers’ Association of Penang president Mohideen Abdul Kader said while the moratorium was “all right” if the industry wanted to consolidate and provide more efficient services, it was crucial that consumers’ interests were safeguarded.

“Postage charges have gone up, and it’s now expensive to post anything.

“The companies should strengthen their services and ensure that they are reliable and affordable, especially at a time like this when we are all looking at the cost factor,” he said.

Economist warns of anti-competition, over-competition

An economist, however, said the moratorium showed that existing players “are trying to protect their turf” by preventing other companies from getting a footing in the industry.

“That is anti-competition. The government needs to convincingly justify why they want to limit the number of players,” said Nazari Ismail of Universiti Malaya’s Business Strategy and Policy Department.

While “too much” competition could be negative, Nazari said it was difficult to prevent new companies from entering the market due to the ease in obtaining loans from banks.

Noting how this had resulted in an increased number of players in the airline sector, bus (transport) and electronics industry, many of which had since had to close shop, he said the same scenario was currently being played out in the courier industry.

“There are too many players, all are indebted to banks and suffering. This is a difficult problem to solve as long as there are banks willing to lend money for new players to come into the industry and expand.

“I will just say that (the moratorium) is a short-term solution. The existing players are also going to kill each other by growing bigger using borrowed money,” he said.