CITY councils and City Halls need to allot more attention to food courts and hawker centres considering more than 80 per cent of working-class Malaysians eat there.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants the local authorities in each state to spruce up such spaces by ensuring its constant upkeep and cleanliness.
"I do not want to see such places rundown with litter and dirty walls adorning the premises. Such places have many people eating there," said Anwar when launching the annual Hawkers and Petty Trader Day celebrations at the Penang International Convention Center in Butterworth.
Among those present were Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedict and Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mohamad Abdul Hamid.
Anwar said that he dines at hawker centres almost every week before performing his Friday prayers at the National Mosque, so he is familiar with their grouses.
Anwar also wants modern food courts and hawker centres to be set up in all industrial and housing areas to enable easier access for consumers.
He said that any government of the day has to address the plight of the needy, which in Malaysia revolves around the B40 and M40 low to middle-income classes.
But it does not mean that the government will ignore the needs of the T20 as if their grouses and needs are valid, it is only fair that they be helped too, he stressed.
Anwar also spoke about the impending removal of subsidies for RON 95 petrol, stressing that the government will go out of its way to ensure nobody is burdened by it.
It is only the T20 or T15, and if there are cases when a family’s collective income is RM13,000, but the parents have five children and healthcare or disability issues, the government may yet accord them fuel subsidies.
Ewon said that up to 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) was from small and medium enterprises, and this includes petty traders and hawkers.
Hence, he encouraged the unveiling of a national development policy for hawkers and petty traders.
In another development, the Federation of Malay Hawkers president Datuk Zainal Abidin Abdul Majid praised Ewon for being attentive to the plight of his members.
Zainal Abidin said that the federation was recently awarded its own rice production factory to help hawkers weather rising rice prices and the occasional shortage of it.
He disclosed that now all 222 parliamentary areas have a rice distribution centre for federation members to procure rice.
This would enable them to sell food at reasonable prices and to ward off inflation, he added.
Zainal Abidin also said that the federation will later sign a memorandum of understanding with the Social Security Services (Socso) to offer work-related protection for its members. - November 2, 2024.
