Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia may boycott over the new government new license requirement for sugar selling
Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob wants the co operative association to help distribute sugar if boycott occurs.
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek .
Some 7,000 co-cooperatives nationwide will be mobilised to distribute the controlled items of sugar, flour and cooking oil if the Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia stops selling these items on June 15 over the issue of licensing.
National Co-operative Organisation of Malaysia (Angkasa) deputy chairman Datuk Abdul Fattah Abdullah said the organisation was ready to help ensure uninterrupted supply of these items by setting up a distribution network.
He said the decision was made following the statement on Tuesday by Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who wanted the co-operative sector to distribute these items in the event the sundry shops refuse to budge from their stand.
On Sunday, the federation in an emergency general meeting decided that its 20,000 members will stop selling the items if the government refuses to retract its decision that traders must obtain a license to sell the controlled items.
Federation president Lean Hing Chuan told theSun today that it only wanted the licence to be abolished and it would lift the decision to stop selling the items, for which the profit margin was extremely small.
"Most of the merchants are old people; it is just a small family business to them. Requiring them to keep a record on the purchase and sales of the items imposes a burden on them because their children have chosen to work elsewhere.
"It is not the matter of paying RM10 for the licence fee. We just don't want the hassle. Other than that, we have to pay for cigarette, liquor, rice, cooking gas, fire extinguisher, scale, advertisement, local council and business licences annually and if we miss the expiry date, we will be fined," he said.
The federation has asked the MCA to help them resolve the problem, through representation to the government. MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had appealed to the federation not to enforce the decision and assured them that MCA will bring up the matter in the cabinet meeting on Friday.
But the government does not seem to be in the mood to compromise on this point.
Ismail Sabri, in his reply in the Dewan Rakyat to points raised during the debate on Direct Sales (Amendment) Bill 2010, said the government’s decision to re-introduce the retail licence effective July 1 should not be a burden to anyone except those who flout the laws.
He said the licence is issued free of charge, will be given on the spot once the applicants have submitted their forms and will be renewed automatically if there were no problems.
"There is only one burden. That is, we could detect if there were hanky-panky among them. This is what actually is bothering them," he said yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said by issuing the licence, the government would be able to monitor the movement of sugar at retail level and ensure there would be no leakages.
"We allow them to sell goods which are controlled by the ministry. It is unreasonable if they were not obligated at all towards us just because they are not licensed.
"Now they can say they don’t want to report anything to us about what they did with the sugar they bought because they are not obligated to do so," he said.
It is learnt some sundry shops have started boycotting sale of the controlled items. A consumer in Subang Jaya said two shops that he approached today told him they have the goods but will not sell them, as a protest gesture.
However, a check with several shops in Penang showed there was no such problem. They, however, said ministry officials had distributed forms to them for the annual licence, which is a measure to fight hoarding.
Lean said the merchants served mostly customers in rural areas and admitted they will be the ones most affected by the federation's decision as he had received many calls appealing against the move.
"The poor in rural areas cannot afford to travel to hypermarkets to buy these goods."
He said the federation did not rule out the possibility of calling other non-Chinese merchants to join the campaign.
It was reported that the profit from the sale of 1kg of sugar is three sen, 5kg of cooking oil is 20 sen and 1kg of flour is three sen.
In Seremban, hypermarkets like Jusco, Maidin and The Store and retail outlets are fast running out of sugar stocks following panic buying by consumers, spurred by rumours of a price hike.
Datuk Hashim Rusdi, the state executive councillor for consumer affairs, said consumers were doubling their purchase of sugar to keep stock. He advised them against doing so, as there was enough stock
