The MCA Religious Harmony Bureau is outraged that the Petaling District and Land Office has decided to prohibit Chinese medical halls under its jurisdiction in Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam from selling liquor.
Knowing full well that traditional Chinese medical halls operators carry out a Chinese family trade which has been passed down for generations, the prohibition is clearly racist as the operators of Chinese medical halls are Chinese, and their clientele are overwhelmingly Chinese and non-Muslims.
In addition, the ban will inconvenience non-Muslims consumers as usually, these Chinese medical halls are located within walking distance of a residential suburb, where there is no need to drive to a hyper/supermarket, search and pay for parking just to obtain one bottle of liquor. It is apparent that the local authorities want to reduce the incomes of Chinese medical hall operators by making business operations difficult for them.
It is time to nip these little Napoleons in the bud. The Pakatan-led Selangor state government must be taken to task for allowing these little Napoleons to compel their hardline values on the Chinese and non-Muslims.
The directive is hypocritical and screams of double standards. Why not apply the same liquor sales bar against established hypermarkets and supermarkets located throughout Selangor and which openly retail liquor in their premises?
Is there some sort of collusion between the local authorities and the conglomerates to force non-Muslims to purchase liquor from hypermarkets and supermarkets? By the same token, then Subang Airport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and coffee shops should also be disqualified from selling liquor.
So long as a public notice is given showing intention to sell liquor has been advertised in the major newspapers, local authorities should not place hindrances to a licenced Chinese medical hall.
If there is a concern on the effects of liquor consumption, then perhaps, the Petaling District and Land Office could direct to mount cautionary signs with graphic images similar to those graphic images found on cigarette boxes, but reading to the effect that “excessive or uncontrolled alcohol or liquor consumption causes health problems” in the area where the liquor is sold.
Selangor state legislative assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh, since one of the districts is your constituency of Subang Jaya, how will you protect the rights of the owners of Chinese medical halls operators? Likewise, the DAP exco member for Local Government, New Village Development and Legalising of Factories Ean Yong Hian Wah must voice out during exco meetings to remedy this ludicrous and racist directive.
TI LIAN KER is MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairperson and MCA Central Committee member.