Yesterday Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, in a statement, said he should not be blamed for the ban of liquor sales in sundry shops and Chinese medicine halls in Kuala Lumpur.
He claimed that this was the decision of the Excise Licensing Board where the board members are non-Muslims.
We are appalled that Shahidan chose to pass the buck to the Excise Licensing Board instead of telling the truth and help resolve the situation by reversing the ban.
In fact, this Excise Licensing Board is a government agency under Shahidan’s ministry. This means the Minister has the power to change or amend any wrong decisions.
The Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur Pakatan Harapan MPs have been engaging with Shahidan on this unfair liquor sales ban issue since he became the FT Minister. This means he knew the situation very well.
The Minister has also called for a number of meetings with the FTKL MPs. He had even repeatedly promised us that he will come out with a liquor sales directive on a “win-win” basis.
However, the directive issued by the DBKL’s Licensing and Business Development Department of DBKL (Jabatan Pelesenan dan Pembangunan Perniagaan) on 1 November 2021 was not a “win-win” solution.
It was made worse because it turned into a complete ban on liquor sales in all sundry shops and Chinese medicine halls in Kuala Lumpur.
Hard liquor is normally sold in shops or outfits run by non-Muslims for the consumption of non-Muslims. In fact, there is an absolute ban in sale of liquor to Muslims as well as to those below 21 years of age.
DBKL’s decision and the FT Minister’s approval for such an arbitrary ban is unfair and a direct assault on the business and consumers’ rights of non-Muslims.
We have told Shahidan that sundry shops and Chinese medicine halls in Kuala Lumpur are small and medium business with low profit margins. The sales of liquor to non-Muslims in these shops is one of the main sources of revenue for them.
We Members of Parliament of FT KL also wish to remind Shahidan that such unfair ban on liquor sales in the outlets will encourage more illicit trade on liquor, and even sales of unlicensed liquor in KL. Online sales of alcohol will also blossom.
On top of that, such a ban on liquor sales will create resentment of non-Muslims toward the government and further create disharmony between Muslims and non-Muslims, not only in Kuala Lumpur but also throughout Malaysia.
We urge Shahidan to stop playing racial and religious politics by banning liquor sales in the sundry shops and Chinese medicine halls in Kuala Lumpur. He is the Minister for all Malaysians, and not for Muslims only.
We the undersigned KL MPs:
YB Tan Kok Wai (Cheras)
YB Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang)
YB Teresa Kok (Seputeh)
YB Lim Lip Eng (Kepong)
YB Hannah Yeoh (Segambut)
YB Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew (Wangsa Maju)
YB Prabakaran A/L Parameswaran (Batu)