KOTA KINABALU – Nobody knows exactly when Pakistan nationals were able to open up sundry shops in Sabah.
But for 42-year-old Michael Johnny, he remembers that, near his village in Kapayan, they have been around ever since he was a little boy.
“I remember my mother asking me to buy rice and canned food from the Pakistani kedai runcit since I was in Standard 1.
“They are the equivalent of today’s 7-Eleven, opening up early in the morning and closing only at midnight,” he said.
“They also sold items at a cheaper price and many of the villagers were able to open up a credit account, paying only when they received their salaries at the end of the month.
“But these days, they don’t give credit anymore; you have to pay up when you buy,” Michael said.
Tracing their way back as far as the 1970s, these sundry shops owned by Pakistan nationals have been an essential for locals as they are spread out across Sabah, including far-flung rural areas, much like a convenience store chain.
Some of the sundry stores are run by Pakistanis, while others own the shops but hire locals to carry out the daily work.
Usually tucked away in villages and residential areas, questions have, however, been raised over the years as to whether their operations are legal.
Under the law, foreigners cannot start unlimited companies, enterprises, sole proprietorship companies and sole proprietorships.
So secretive is the nature of these Pakistani-run sundry shops that it could not be ascertained whether they had obtained special permission from the state government to operate.
Questions directed to the state Local Housing and Government Ministry, which is in charge of small businesses, went unanswered.
Checks by The Vibes found that, while many of these shops do have business licences, when approached, many of the Pakistanis remained tight-lipped.
One Pakistani sundry shop manager who spoke on condition of anonymity said the shop is owned by his boss, also from Pakistan, but who has acquired Malaysian citizenship.
“This is not his only shop; he has a few more in Tg Aru, Likas and Penampang,” said the man at the shop in a busy Kapayan area.
On the wherabouts of his boss, the man said he stays in Penampang and has a house here, but is currently in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, a small Pakistani-run tuck shop in Kg Tg Aru has a different kind of “paper”.
A check showed that the name on its business licence belongs to a local.
“She is my wife. But I am still a Pakistani national,” the shopkeeper said.
In 2019, the authorities carried out a raid on sundry stores run by Pakistan nationals in Penampang as part of an operation to weed out illegal operators.
Back then, some of the Pakistan nationals were found to have no identification papers, while it was discovered that some had opened their shops on native land gazetted for dwelling and agricultural use.
It was reported then that all 32 stores raided had expired business licences. All the operators had also apparently married local women.
It was also found that their shop workers had been made to work beyond 8am-10pm, while one store appeared to have opened up a small room offering massage services.
Penampang’s councillors noted that the problem has been ongoing for years as their operations are aided by locals who rent out their property to the shop owners. – The Vibes, June 13, 2021
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