Geoffrey Williams of the Malaysia University of Science and Technology said it was the government that issued licences and permits as well as set regulations.

“It has been government policy for many years to create these anti-competitive arrangements and now we see the cost and consequences of it,” he told FMT.

Williams said this in response to a statement by Annuar Musa, the chairman of a task force leading the “jihad” against inflation, that there were “tendencies” for cartels to be created in the production of chicken, eggs and cooking oil.

Annuar said the government could not allow the “survival of the fittest” or “free-for-all” situation.

Williams said while middlemen could help coordinate supply and bring products to market, the general experience in Malaysia is they manipulated markets, marked up prices and took big cuts between producers and consumers.

He said cartels, monopolies and middlemen need to be broken up to prevent this.

“This can be done by having more free markets and less government interference. That way, there is a chance for prices to normalise and become cheaper or at least more affordable,” he said.

Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Shaun Cheah said while middlemen were essential in the supply chain, there were those who never contributed.

He said these were rent-seeking middlemen that acted as “toll gates” or monopolised the import permits (APs), who did not add value but worked under the guise of maintaining quality.

Federation of Malaysian Business Associations vice-chairman Raymond Woo said there were some middlemen who had attempted to minimise the rise in product prices.

These middlemen did so by lowering their margins in the short term to help ease the burden on the public.

“We can only hope middlemen do set appropriate margins to ensure a long-lasting relationship with all the stakeholders,” he added.