Immigrants affect local hawkers’ rice bowl, association claims
KOTA KINABALU 7/10/2012: The Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Alliance (Ikhlas) yesterday claimed the existence of thousands of immigrants in Sabah would affect the rice bowls of local hawkers.
Its president, Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, said the situation had been made worse, especially by immigrants with fake MyKad endowed with the opportunity to carry out business.
“Ikhlas has monitored the situation in Kota Kinabalu, and we have sat together with these immigrants some of whom are believed to be in possession of fake MyKads.
“There are also immigrant hawkers using the same name on three different MyKads. This is shocking and it saddens me because their existence among the local hawker community are affecting our local rice bowls,”
he said to reporters after handing over survey questionnaires to hawkers at the Kota Kinabalu Central Market yesterday.
He said the survey would be for the association to determine the real situation pervading the local hawkers affected by the presence of the immigrants.
At a press conference, Mohd Ridzuan described the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah as a threat to the security of the country, adding that the establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah would help to identify the problems related to their presence in the state.
He expressed confidence that the hawker community in the state would welcome the move initiated by the association since their business has since for a long time been affected by the business activities of these immigrants, especially at markets like the Kota Kinabalu Central Market, he added.
Mohd Ridzuan also said that he would invite small and medium entrepreneurs in Sabah to join the alliance as only 1,730 from an estimated 160,000 hawkers in Malaysia are currently registered with Ikhlas.
by Mariah Doksil
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