KUALA LUMPUR: The issue of foreign nationals abusing visitor and student visas to conduct business needs a holistic enforcement mechanism and tougher penalties to curb it.
Coalition of Malay Hawkers and Petty Traders Associations of Malaysia (GPPPKMM) president Datuk Zainal Abidin Abdul Majid proposed stricter laws, including banning offenders from re-entering Malaysia for between five and 10 years, as well as imposing jail terms.
“We need to look at a mechanism to prevent them from repeating the offence. If their goods are confiscated, they can simply bring in new ones the next day. That does not stop them completely,” he said.
He said comprehensive enforcement should be implemented alongside existing legal provisions, including the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 (Act 197), against the errant foreign traders.
He also proposed a special unit involving multiple agencies, such as the Immigration Department and local authorities, to continuously monitor and conduct patrols, not just enforcement at specific times.
Zainal Abidin said failure to curb the issue would undermine the local hawker ecosystem, particularly when foreign traders trigger price wars.
“When there is a price war, they can sell at lower prices because they do not pay taxes, obtain permits or hire workers.
“We usually lose out in this kind of price competition,” he said, Bernama reported.
Checks around the Pudu area, mainly along Jalan Silang, found that many business premises were operated by foreign nationals, including roadside hawkers.
Taxi driver Wahab Nasir, 71, said areas around Pudu Sentral had a lot of foreign traders due to what he described as the greed of local owners who rented out their business lots to them.
“What is puzzling is that despite rental rates reaching RM3,000 to RM4,000 a month, they are still able to survive for long even though they only sell cheap goods,” he said.
Foh Loi Kian, 50, an employee of a local business in the area, revealed that some foreign nationals had been exploiting business licences registered with locals to operate illegal stalls.
“The proliferation of foreign-operated stalls here has reduced our customer base because they offer much lower prices, while we have to bear high operating costs, including paying business taxes,” he said.
On Monday, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim expressed concern over the growing number of foreign nationals who misused visitor and student visas to conduct business in the country, including in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
The Prime Minister said such practices could have an adverse impact on job opportunities for Malaysians.
