Screening for small business licence application intensified

PENAMPANG: The district has adopted a more rigorous approach to approve the small retail store licence in villages here by intensifying the application screening process.

Applications submitted to the district office will be subjected to screening at the Penampang parliamentary office level before submission to the district office for further processing.

Penampang district officer Henry Idol consented for the Penampang Parliamentary Office to carry out the screening process which will be assisted by UPPM officers and the heads of the respective villages.

Meetings will be held involving officials from the Penampang Parliament, UPPM Moyog and Kepayan officers and each village head will be involved, where a joint decision will be made after discussion and feedback of each individual present.

This approach is implemented in Penampang district due to complaints by villagers and locals about the existence of small retail shops owned and operated by foreigners on tourist pass and without a valid work permit.

The issue of foreigners who married local women and are guaranteed by them but do not have work permit to operate a grocery store business in the villages, has also been a frequent issue in Penampang.

This is an issue politicians have been playing for decades and the approach Penampang district officer suggested has been able to reduce the small retail shops that are monopolized by foreigners without work permits.

This is complemented with efforts by the Penampang District Council in joint operations conducted in collaboration with the KDNHEP, Customs and Immigration Departments.

Based on the circular of the secretary-general of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government number 3 of 2008, the issuance of a Small Business Permit by the local authority (PBT) article 3 … clause (v), the permit shall be issued to Malaysian citizens only and the permit holder shall be at the place of business at all times.

The act of revoking the permit should be taken for Malaysian nationals who transfer their business permits to foreigners or who do not conduct the business themselves;
”We are aware of the complaints by the local community on the issue of foreign traders without a valid permit and that it requires political will to ensure that the issue is addressed promptly.

“Though some say the process will increase bureaucracy but the efforts made so far have successfully cut down the number of small foreign retailer business without work permit in each village drastically,” said Pritchard Gumbaris, Political Secretary to Penampang Member of Parliament, Darell Leiking.

Pritchard pointed out that every small grocery store would be visited by officials from the parliamentary office along with officials from UPPM office to ensure that the small grocery store is operated by the locals.

“Each meeting will be recorded including the method of using video cameras to ensure transparency in the screening process,” he said, adding that a total of 18 applications were approved last week following feedback from members of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Kg Hubah village chief, Clare John Bosuin, said the small grocery store application processing method had helped village chiefs in dealing with the issue of small-scale retail outlets that were previously handled by foreigners without a valid work permit.

“And, this has given local entrepreneurs the opportunity to venture into the small village retail business,” she said.

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