Law preventing ticket scalping to be formulated - Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR: A law against ticket scalping will be formulated, said Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil.

He said the ministry would further discuss the matter with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN).

"I have discussed with (KPDN minister) Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub and we found that there is no law yet on scalping.

"As such, we will also work with other ministries to see what legal provisions need to be created to avoid the problem of scalping or ticket touting," he told a press conference at the Parliament Building, here today which was also attended by Salahuddin.

On the reselling of concert tickets at higher prices, or ticket scalping, for Coldplay's KL concert, Fahmi said Live Nation Malaysia had explained that as many as 700,000 attempts to purchase the tickets had been recorded with a total of 71,000 tickets sold through 26,000 transactions.

"So what we have decided yesterday evening is that the KPDN and Live Nation will work together to identify if there is ticket scalping, while the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will help by (making) a profiling to identify who may be behind the accounts of the ticket sale," he said.

This followed complaints of the difficulty in purchasing the tickets due to scalpers buying in bulk.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said a study on the formulation of a law on scalping was timely with the development of various industries currently.

"This collaboration is important because the matter also involves other things such as the future of other industries, such as football, the sale of bus tickets and other tickets.

"Therefore, we will collaborate with the Ministry of Transport, as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, to draft a law to solve the problems," he said.

Regarding the alleged scalping of Coldplay concert tickets, Salahuddin said the ministry had received 28 complaints about the matter and that his ministry and the Ministry of Communications and Digital are identifying the parties involved.

"The public is advised to be wise when purchasing concert tickets. Choose the right channel and if they feel they have been cheated, immediately report to KPDN so that we can investigate," he added.

-- BERNAMA