SHAH ALAM, Aug 27 — The Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) is studying an increase in compound rates for offences involving hawkers and business premises to ensure enforcement action is not taken lightly by offenders.
Shah Alam Mayor Dato' Zabidah Safar said the review also takes into account the trend of traders waiting for reduction offers before settling their compounds, particularly for amounts exceeding RM300.
“The issue raised earlier was that when compounds exceed RM300, they wait for a reduction. That has indeed been the trend so far.
“MBSA itself has already held a meeting to review the new rates. This involves the Hawkers’ By-Laws as well as the Trade By-Laws, as these by-laws stipulate a maximum compound of RM1,000. So, we will look into this for further action,” she said during a media conference after the MBSA meeting today.
Zabidah added that the proposed new rates will take into account the reduction mechanism, so that the amount payable by offenders after a reduction remains significant.
The review would not be limited to offences involving hawkers and business premises, but could be expanded to other offences under MBSA by-laws, including parking offences.
Meanwhile, the local authority is also paying attention to issues involving foreign hawkers and foreign operators of business premises, including licence holders who rent out their business licences to foreigners.
“For foreign hawkers, we do not issue compounds, but seizure action will be taken, and the goods or equipment will be brought to the MBSA store,” she said.
Local hawkers operating without licences could be issued compounds and have their equipment seized if they continued operating after being instructed to cease operations.
“If business premises operators employ foreigners, we will immediately issue a compound for the offence of violating the licence conditions.
“As for action against foreigners, we need to work together with the Immigration Department, and in certain cases we can take action to close the premises,” Zabidah said.
Similarly, MBSA is considering establishing a special task force to coordinate action against premises owners who rent out their shops to foreigners.
She noted that the task force would examine the jurisdictions of the relevant departments so enforcement action could be carried out more cohesively, among other things.
Regarding the proposed increase in compound rates, Zabidah said the proposal paper would be discussed at the management level before being brought to the Finance Committee and subsequently submitted for confirmation at a full MBSA meeting.
“We expect to table the proposal paper for consideration and approval in the near future,” she said.
