The decision of the Kulim District Office to halt the sale of liquor from June this year may be an act of sabotage against the Kedah government, a PKR assemblyperson claimed today.

Kulim state assemblyperson Lim Soo Nee said the decision was solely made by the district office, without informing the Kedah government or the state executive councillors.

kedah defection ceramah 220510 kulim assemblyman lim soo nee Lim ( right) said he had received co mplaints about the matter and had been told by the district office that it had indeed decided to stop issuing licences for liquor shops after June.

"They are still issuing licences for the first half of this year so that operators can clear their stocks," he said.

"I am not ruling out the possibility that someone is trying to sabotage the Kedah Pakatan Rakyat government. Someone is trying to trap us," Lim said.

According to The Star today, liquor shop owners have received letters that their licences would be automatically terminated at the end of June.

Some 100 liquor sellers, the English language daily said, were expected to be affected by the new directive of the district office.

It is learnt that the decision was made during a meeting chaired by the Kulim district officer last year.

 Kedah MB contacted

On whether Kulim would be the only district affected, Lim said that so far only Kulim had issued the new ruling.

However, he is uncertain if the neighbouring district, Bandar Baharu, has issued a similar ruling, although it is believed that the area had once banned liquor sales several years ago, when the state was under BN rule.

"I have already conveyed the matter to the Kedah Menteri Besar, and I will handle the issue myself," he told Malaysiakini .

"I urge residents and traders to stay calm, give me some time to handle it. If I fail to settle the issue, I will resign from my exco post," he added.

Asked whether the ruling formed part of state's Islamisation process by PAS, to show that the party was a dominant force in Pakatan, Lim denied that this was so.

"We, the exco, do not know of it. It was simply a decision by the district office," he said.

Kulim Bandar Baharu MCA chairperson Chua Thiong Gee said the party would try to negotiate with the district office to settle the matter.

"If there is no further instruction from the district office or the state government, we will take the matter to another level. For now we are collecting details of the affected traders."

Chua noted that some of the traders were reluctant to come forward they feared the authorities would take action against them.