QUESTION TIME | An approved permit or AP is nothing more than a tool to put money, almost for free, into the hands of connected bumiputeras, many of whom are not even businessmen in the correct sense of the word and who sell the APs to others for money.

That the new Pakatan Harapan government is going ahead with this tool of patronage, which robs the man on the street via higher prices to benefit the permit holders, is bad news. Not only is it very wrong, it also distorts competitiveness and market efficiency.

APs have been systematically abused by successive BN governments, including during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s previous term as prime minister, to make billions for cronies by giving them a licence to virtually print money. It did little or nothing in terms of benefiting bumiputera business development.

Billionaires were made through APs, whether by letting other people use the permits or to make use of the monopolistic or oligopolistic practice to make super profits, all at the expense of the public...