KUALA LUMPUR: 97 per cent of Malaysians would want the government to take immediate action against the tobacco black market, according to a nationwide survey conducted by British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT Malaysia).
Tobacco black market contributed to more than RM5 billion losses in uncollected taxes every year, the surveyed revealed.
The survey titled Stop the Black Market campaign, noted that an overwhelming majority (88 per cent) of Malaysians believe the tobacco black market was impeding the nation's Covid-19 economic recovery.
The survey shown that top three factors sustaining the tobacco black market were corruption (38 per cent), high excise duties (27 per cent) and insufficient resources for enforcement agencies to tackle the issue (19 per cent).
"Malaysians believe that reducing the price differential between legal and black market products (35 per cent) and greater collaboration between law enforcement agencies (29 per cent) are key in countering the tobacco black market," the survey revealed.
BAT Malaysia managing director Jonathan Reed said the company welcomed the enthusiastic response by Malaysians to its Stop The Black Market campaign.
"Since it went live on July 6, 2020, the campaign website has had more than 30,000 unique visits. From the feedback we received, Malaysians are very concerned about the tobacco black market and support immediate government action to clamp down on the criminal syndicates operating within this space," he said in a statement today.
He said the support from Malaysians stems from the desire to see the economy recovering post Covid-19."
"As part of a follow up to the survey, BAT Malaysia will be making public the survey findings and launching a second survey on our campaign website at stoptheblackmarket.com.my providing Malaysians with a channel to further express what can be done to address this issue quickly and comprehensively," he added.
The nationwide survey commissioned by BAT Malaysia in July 2020 consisted of an online survey of over 2,000 Malaysian adults.