Assembly hall ‘up-in-arms’ with DBKL over liquor sale ban

THE Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) has deemed that the liquor sale ban at grocery stores, convenient stores as well as Chinese medical halls by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) effective Nov 1 as “gross injustice” towards traditional retail trade in and around the city.

The assembly hall expressed grave concern that the implementation of Guidelines and Conditions for Application of Liquor Licence (Intoxicating Liquor) will be emulated by local governments in other states, thus affecting the development of the retail trade sector in Malaysia.

Prior to this, the guidelines which were first introduced by DBKL in November last year should have been enforced on Oct 1 but the implementation was delayed for a month until Nov 1, 2021.

“KLSCAH opines that the guidelines do not clearly justify the reasons for the ban on sale of liquor in grocery stores, convenience stores and Chinese medicine stores given supermarkets, hypermarkets and shopping complexes are allowed to sell liquor,” argued the assembly hall in a statement.

“The implementation of the guidelines will affect the income of traditional retail trade, especially the Chinese medicine business sector which relies on the sale of liquor for disease treatment purposes.”

According to KLSCAH, the traditional retail sector which has been operating without Government support in the face of modernisation has now come under pressure with policies that favour of big retail players, namely hypermarkets.

“In this regard, KLSCAH considers the enforcement of the Guidelines and Conditions for Application of Liquor License (Intoxicating Liquor) by DBKL as not in line with the concept of “Keluarga Malaysia” introduced by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” asserted the assembly hall.

It therefore calls on DBKL to withdraw the decision to implement the ban on the sale of liquor in grocery stores, convenient stores and Chinese medical halls. – Nov 3, 2021

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