Include federation members in council - The Star

April 24, 2008

THE Perak Government has been urged to include members of the Federation of Hawkers and Petty Traders Associations of Malaysia as local councillors.

Its vice-president Lee Teong Chwee said members of the federation were keen on playing direct and active roles to help the state government in its administration.

“We hope to be given the chance to voice out the needs and problems of our members.
“We believe our members are also able to assist the state government in the formulation of policies concerning hawkers and petty traders,” Lee said during a courtesy call on Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin in Ipoh on Tuesday.

He, however, noted that the state government should set up a tra-ders’ information unit at each local council if it was not appointing its members as councillors.

“It would serve as a platform to raise and discuss our pro- blems with the local councils,” he added.

Welcoming the suggestions, Nizar said the state government was set on appointing one-third of its councillors from non-political parties and it would be done in phases.

Earlier, federation president Datuk Ghai Soo Ming urged the state government to disallow the privatisation of markets without first consulting the traders.

“If traders are willing to run the market, why not let them do it because they have more experience in the matter?

“Many times, firms that take over the running of markets do not know much about the business and are only interested in making huge profits, charging up to RM50,000 per lot.

“Market traders are poor people and cannot afford to pay high rentals. If we had so much money, we wouldn’t have to work in the markets anymore,” he said.