A petty traders advocacy group have urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to curb the growing number of foreign traders and businesses in the Klang Valley.

The group - the Small and Medium Business Enterprise Alliance (Ikhlas), best known for its " burger protest " in front of Ambiga Sreenevasan's home last month - said foreign traders are affecting the livelihood of locals.

NONE This was conveyed the message to the premier in form of a memorandum at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's office in Putrajaya today.

Ikhlas chairperson Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah ( right in photo ) told reporters later that of the estimated 51,000 business premises registered with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), 80 percent are rented to foreigners.

“These ‘ ali baba ’ traders do not contribute to the government because they do not need to pay income tax,” he said.

Ridzuan blamed the situation on local business folks and unscrupulous individuals in various government agencies such as the police, immigration department, DBKL and some business groups.

NONE "There are ' makhluk perosak (destructive creatures)' are the cause of the foreigners being here. Now, Ramadhan season is upon us. They are renting out bazaar spaces to these foreigners," he said.

Ridzuan said the Ikhlas members, which were accompanied by 150 traders to the premier's doorsteps, will not take further action and will wait for Najib's reply.

"We hope to be able to meet the premier," said Ridzuan.

He added that this issue has been raised to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) two weeks ago.

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