The Star, 30 May 2008

THE Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) should do its job and come up with a solution instead of blaming residents or hawkers at the wet market at Jalan BRP7/2, Subang MP R. Sivarasa said.

He added that the MPS should not heighten the existing tension between the two parties.

According to him, some traders had blamed the residents for complaining about them to the MPS. However, the residents said they were looking out for the best interests of the community and had asked for the traders to be relocated to a more suitable location. 

“If MPS has already identified a permanent site for the traders, it should make the proper decision. The relocation is not an issue but a lack of transparency in the process is,” Sivarasa said.

He was speaking after meeting with a group of traders from the morning market as well as representatives from the residents’ association.

The traders, who had been trading at the site for the past four years, had staged a peaceful protest against the decision to relocate them.

Last year, MPS had given the traders’ notice of the relocation to a site some 1km away.

The traders claimed that the developer of the new site had asked them to contribute towards construction cost.

They also alleged that they were required to pay RM1,500 per trading bay in addition to rental and utility bills.

At a meeting on May 14, it was decided that the traders’ temporary business permits, which expire on June 21, would not be renewed.

Sivarasa said he would be meeting the MPS president to find out its stand on the issue, adding that MPS had a responsibility to resolve the issue.

“We will try and get MPS to allow the traders to continue at the present site until a decision has been made.

“We are still waiting for the new councillors line-up and MPS is expected to hold its first full board meeting at the end of next month,” he added.

Sivarasa also questioned the background of the developer of the new site and said he would refer the matter to the Anti-Corruption Agency if necessary.

Market traders move into a bind

By Noel Achariam, NST

SUNGEI BULOH: About 300 traders of an open-air market in Bukit Rahman Putra here gathered on Thursday to voice their frustation with the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) over the issue of their business permits. The traders had been notified by MPS that their temporary business permits may not be renewed upon expiry in June, and that they must move to new premises by June 21.

MPS stressed that its decision was final and that any business still in operation after that date would be considered illegal and its operator would face legal consequences. It was also revealed that the move followed concerns raised by residents in the vicinity of Jalan 7/2, BRP7, Bukit Rahman Putra, who said they were affected by the market.

In October last year, the traders were offered alternative premises when a private company began work on a new open-air market on a government-owned plot of land about a kilometre away. The traders were invited by the company to sign a contract for alloted space in the new market. According to a statement released by the traders, the company claimed that it would be able to provide business licenses for traders who shifted to the new site.

However, upon further investigation, the traders discovered that the terms and conditions set by the private company were unreasonable, and found themselves having no choice but to decline the offer. Hence, their current dilemma. Bukit Rahman Putra Traders and Vendors Association president Soo Kim Huat expressed his unhappiness over the situation, especially since the company to which MPS had leased the site was charging exorbitant prices for individual lots. “The company is charging RM1,500 for space at the new site.

“But an average trader needs about two to three times that amount of space to operate their business. Furthermore, these traders are poor and live hand-to-mouth. How are they going to afford to pay RM3,000 a month?” he said. The traders are also curious as to why MPS allowed a private company to develop government land.

Rallying to their cause is Subang Member of Parliament Sivarasa Rasiah, who said that the root of the problem lies with MPS’s failure to service the traders directly. “The land that MPS leased out to the private contractor belongs to the people. The traders should not have to go through a third-party to rent space at the new market.

“I’m disappointed that MPS is not trying to solve the traders’ problems. I will meet MPS officials next week to discuss the issues raised.” Seemingly left out of the picture are the residents of the area, whose complaints were what sparked the controversy. Resident Abdul Azrin Mois, 40, said that he and 500 residents in the vicinity of the market are negatively affected by it when it operates every Thursday and Saturday.

However, Abdul Azrin added that he sympathised with the traders and had no intention of running them out of business.

“We have already written numerous letters to MPS asking them to relocate the market. But we have yet to receive an answer.

“They don’t seem to care.”