Traders and bus operators at the Medan Kidd bus station in Ipoh have filed a report with the Perak Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to enable investigations into whether "particular interests" were behind the move to close the facility and to relocate them to Medan Gopeng.

Parti Socialis Malaysia central committee member S Kunasekaran said the group, which he is assisting, will soon submit a report with the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya.

He said this after the group handed over a memorandum on their plight to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) this morning in Kuala Lumpur.

In the memorandum, the group of about 60 bus and taxi operators as well as stall and shop owners called on Suhakam to conduct an independent inquiry into the closure and the violation of their economic and civil rights.

The group said their livelihood has been threatened following yesterday's closure of the Medan Kidd bus station, on the orders of the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (CVLB).

"We want Suhakam to intervene immediately and advise the central and state governments to re-open the Medan Kidd station in order to guarantee the rights of all quarters," read the memorandum.

Mayor passes buck

Among the aggrieved parties present at Suhakam were single mothers, who claimed they have no alternative source of income to maintain their children. They have been traders at the Medan Kidd station for several years.

Food-stall operator Rohani Abdullah, who has been at the site for seven years, told reporters that she had confronted the Ipoh mayor Talaat Husain during his visit to Medan Kidd yesterday.

"I asked him how I was to feed my children...but he passed the buck by saying 'Ask the Menteri Besar (Tajol Rosli)'," she said.

"But when I pointed out a sign declaring that Medan Kidd has been closed 'on the order of the mayor' he just said, 'I don't know. I'm just following orders'."

She said those affected could not all move to Medan Gopeng, as has been suggested by the CVLB, since the new terminal at Medan Gopeng is located on much smaller site.

"There are already many stall operators in Medan Gopeng. They not going to want anymore traders arriving from Medan Kidd," she said.

Rates charged

Taxi driver Umayun Kabeer conveyed his disgust with the "race games" he faced when he sought permission to wait at Medan Gopeng station to pick up fares.

"I was told that as a non-Malay, I would have to pay RM150 for annual membership, RM50 as a monthly fee and RM1 for each day that I use the Medan Gopeng taxi rank. This is in addition to a five percent commission based on my daily takings to use the taxi stand," he said.

"There are about 60 other Chinese taxi drivers and 40 Indian drivers from Medan Kidd. We should not be subjected to these race games."

Suhakam commissioners Siva Subramanium and Hamdan Adnan, who received the memorandum, said they would raise the matter with commission chairperson Abu Talib Othman before deciding on a course of action.

Both stated, however, that investigations would be required to determine whether particular interests were at play.

When contacted by malaysiakini about a month ago, former CVLB chairperson Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar - who had issued the first notice of location - had denied that he had any special interest in the move.

"The facilities at Medan Gopeng are just better than at Medan Kidd. There's the issue of safety as well as that of hygiene," he had said.