Anti-Ali Baba law hoped to resolve economic imbalance - Rafizi

SHAH ALAM - The government will introduce an anti-Ali Baba law to ban the culture in the country's economic sector.

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the country had suffered losses of about RM17 billion to RM18 billion due to the practice.

He said this was because there were businesses owned by local people but were rented out to foreigners, on top of the construction of projects becoming expensive because some parties took a percentage for themselves.

"Building projects should be cheap but the opposite happens. There are many stories about Ali Baba's culture in our economy.

"We must stop this practice because it can be a source of corruption and leakage. That's why, in my view, dealing with Ali Baba's culture requires a comprehensive and structured solution," he said via Twitter on Saturday.

He added that eradicating the Ali Baba culture in the economic sector could not be just empty talk but there needed to be immediate action.

"Therefore, I hope that with this legal framework, we can resolve one of the main imbalances in the country's economy," he said.