(22.2.69)
Dear Inche Harun,
This is to bring your attention to certain improprieties in the allocation of sites for hawkers at Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur during the pre-Chinese New Year sales period.
At the Balloting for Hawker’s sites at Jalan Petaling held on February 12 at the Chinese Assembly Hall, the 16 best sites were reserved, and not open for balloting. This is clearly improper.
It is believed that these reserved sites were let out to hawkers at prices raging from $400 to $600.
On 13th Feb., I issued a public statement asking the Municipal Hawkers’ Sub-Committee to explain why the 16 best sites were reserved, and to whom were they allocated.
Apart from a childish reply from the MCA Maju Ward, which claims credit for the entire arrangement, there has been no satisfactory explanation from the Municipal ‘Hawkers’ Sub-Committee.
Unless the Hawkers’ Sub-Committee of the Municipality can give the public a satisfactory explanation on this irregular practice of reserving the 16 best sites from balloting, there is a case for the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate into the entire affair to make sure that nobody makes an personal profit from the allocation of the 16 best sites for hawkers at Jalan Petaling.
The Anti-Corruption Agency should investigate into the matter to establish the truth. If there are no corrupt practices, then public doubts should be dispelled and the public given the explanations for the reservation of the 16 best sites from open balloting, and the manner of their allocation.
If there are corrupt practices, then the Agency should take appropriate action.