ISKANDAR PUTERI: Local councils in Johor should show more compassion when carrying out enforcement against small and medium enterprises such as roadside traders, says Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor.
The state housing and local government committee chairman acknowledged that local councils were only carrying out their duties but said they should take a softer approach by providing advice beforehand.
He said among others, a local woman who had been operating her business for 10 years without a permit had come to him with a complaint.
"She said enforcement officials just came to her stall and seized all her items. I feel it would have been more suitable to advise her before taking such stern action.
"Many traders started small businesses after losing their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic," he said, adding that this was their sole source of income.
"Can the government provide them with a minimum wage of RM1,500 a month?" he said during Question Time at the Johor state assembly sitting in Kota Iskandar here on Monday (March 20).
He was replying to Datuk Pandak Ahmad (BN-Kota Iskandar) who asked about action taken against unlicensed traders in his constituency.
Mohd Jafni also said the Iskandar Puteri City Council had relocated some traders to more suitable and safer locations under the council's Petty Traders By-law 2020.
Some of the locations are Taman Seri Orkid, Taman Universiti, Taman Perling, Taman Teknologi and Taman Nusantara.
