Hawkers warned not to rent out licences to illegals

Licensed hawkers have been warned against allowing their licences to be used by illegal immigrants, and Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Arifin Asgali said he had instructed the Kota Kinabalu City Hall to check the allegations that some licensed hawkers were renting out their licence to illegal immigrants.

KOTA KINABALU: Licensed hawkers have been warned against allowing their licences to be used by illegal immigrants.

Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Arifin Asgali said he had instructed the Kota Kinabalu City Hall to check the allegations that some licensed hawkers were renting out their licences to illegal immigrants.

He warned that those found doing so would have their licence s revoked.

“Remember, this is an opportunity given to our people (locals). Why rent it out to outsiders?”

Speaking at the 19th Annual General Meeting of the Sabah West Coast Bumiputera Hawkers' Association held at the Tang Hotel, Arifin said that the matter had been raised by people who were keen to set up their own stall at the two locations managed by the association.

However, they were unable to do so as the place is already packed and crowded.

Arifin also queried those attending the AGM if they felt comfortable at the present site where they are running their stall(s).

He urged members of the association to keep the sites clean at all times since they also attract tourists.

He also suggested the use of microbe to treat waste materials generated by the stall operators to ward off flies.

Reporters were made to understand that there are about 1,000 hawkers hawking at their stall(s) along Sinsuran in the evening.

The association also looks after another hawker site located at Kampung Air. The association has 600 hawkers as its members presently.

Meanwhile, one of the issues raised by the association's deputy president, Rubail Sitail is the lack of permanent site for the stall operators to carry out their operations.

He cited that the association and its 600 members are paying the government RM28,000 a month.

“We are able to pay, we are not asking for funding, we only want a (permanent) site for us to generate our income,” he said.

With regard to this issue, Arifin said that the city hall would sit with the association to discuss a solution to the issue.

He explained to reporters during a press conference later that the predicament facing members of the association is that they have no permanent site to run their hawking business.

“If there are developments, they will be moved to another location,” he said.

However, he stressed that the hawkers were never chased off but simply relocated.

“Nevertheless, these hawkers are important as they generate Sabah's economy,” he said.

He also said that the operators were supposed to move to the KK Central but that site is still undergoing some renovations.

Also present at the AGM was Lipah Haji Mad.