MCA: Uphold non-Muslim retailers' right to sell alcohol

PETALING JAYA: MCA has called for the rights of non-Muslim retailers to sell alcohol to be protected after an NGO forced a convenience store in Perak to get rid of their alcohol stock.

Following the incident, Perak Mentri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu reminded the NGO not to act on their own and instead lodge a report to the authorities, a move MCA said was "timely".

However, MCA said Ahmad Faizal's next advice for retailers operating in Malay villages to be "more sensitive to the feeling of locals" was legally incorrect.

"There are no laws prohibiting sales of bottled or canned alcoholic drinks except for the restrictions under the Excise Act," said MCA publicity spokesman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker.

Stating that Section 32 (1) of the Excise Act outlines the liberty on alcohol sales, Ti said the local by-laws and local government regulations must not override the Federal Law.

Ti highlighted a previous case debated in the Perak State Assembly where local council officials confiscated canned beers from a 7-11 convenience store on the basis that the premises was selling alcoholic drinks in a largely populated Malay area.

"The Exco in charge of Islamic Affairs then, Datuk Ahmad Munawar Abdul Jalil had also asserted in the state assembly that during Nabi Muhammad's time, only Muslims are prohibited to serve, sell or consume alcoholic drinks but the rights of the non-Muslims to do so have always been respected," he said.

"We cannot impose or restrict the rights and liberties of traders to trade canned or bottled drinks containing less than 2% alcohol," Ti said, adding that this right should not be restricted by imposing the demographic factor.

"There is no law that prohibits any such sales in a Malay-majority area. However, there are personal laws that forbid Muslims from purchasing these drinks," Ti said, adding that the enforcement should be against Muslim wrongdoers and not the retailers.

He called upon DAP lawyers in the Perak state exco and state assembly to uphold the law.

On Thursday (May 24), a group of men was filmed compelling workers who were restocking cans of beers into the beverage cooler at a convenience store to remove the items.