Foreigners no longer allowed to apply for hawker licences in S'gor, says Rodziah

KLANG: Foreigners will no longer be allowed to apply for hawking licences in Selangor, says state Entrepreneur Development Committee chairman Rodziah Ismail (pic).

Rodziah said Selangor has passed legislation prohibiting foreigners from owning business licences, running temporary businesses or being employed by such businesses.

"We will not allow it even if the foreigner is the husband or wife (of a Malaysian)," said Rodziah.

She added that the changes were made given the weaknesses and lack of clarity in the current system of issuing business licences for hawking.

"One of it (weaknesses) is not clearly stating the criteria for issuing permits. There has to be the name of a Malaysian citizen (now)," she said.

Rodziah explained there were three conditions that needed to be met when one applies for a business licence from the local authorities in Selangor.

"The first condition is that the licence must be issued to a Malaysian citizen. Second, those named as nominees cannot exceed a time frame of three months.

"Third, any workers employed must be Malaysians and registered with the authorities," she said.

"We will use a biometric system and registration cannot be done by anyone other than the person named (in the license) or the (registered) workers," she added.

Rodziah said the current change in law was only applicable to hawkers as they came under the jurisdiction of the local authorities.

She added that other businesses, such as restaurants, came under the purview of the Home Ministry.