The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has reiterated its commitment to continue monitoring developments in the local ride-hailing market, after Grab took over rival Uber’s operations in Southeast Asia on April 8.
A member of the commission Prof Dr Saadiah Mohamad clarified that technically, mergers and acquisitions do not fall under the jurisdiction of MyCC. However, she said the commission will closely oversee the behaviour of the ride-hailing service provider, subsequent to the merger, as it is of public interest.
“We take note of this, because we know there is a lot of public interest in this and as a regulator looking into competition, we have started our engagement with Grab, we have had discussion with them,” she told a press conference today.
“Monopoly in itself is not illegal. But abuse of a dominant position is an infringement, according to the law. So even though we don’t look at the process of the merger itself, we will monitor the pricing and any other anti-competitive behaviour [after the merger],” she added.
Saadiah said MyCC will look at post-merger issues within the context of Sections 4 and 10 of the Competition Act 2010, in which Section 4 revolves around price fixing and market sharing, while Section 10 refers to the abuse of a dominant position.
“The case of Grab and Uber also entails collaboration with the various competition agencies, especially within Asean, because a lot of businesses now operate across borders. So, it would be interesting to also look at how the competition commission in Singapore and Indonesia are reacting and responding to this issue, because their decisions could also impact the businesses here,” she added.
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