Hii Chang Kee
SIBU: Holders of licences issued by Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) risk losing them if they have been slapped with more than three compounds in a year.

SMC secretary Hii Chang Kee said the licence holders would be served with showcause letters for the cancellation of their licence.

He added that this had been incorporated into the licensing conditions since the beginning of the year, and is applicable to all types of licence issued by the council.

Hii disclosed that 45 licences had been surrendered voluntarily while 22 were cancelled as explanations in their showcase letters were not to the satisfaction of the council.

“There is a condition that stipulates that if a licence holder has been compounded more than three times in a calendar year he will be served with a showcause letter for the cancellation of licence.

“This is for all types of compounds under the licensing conditions. The conditions apply to hawkers, including coffee shop operators,” Hii said when met after a tour of Sibu Central Market on Thursday by participants of the local authority seminar.

He said the stringent measure was meant to prevent abuse of the licence.

“We are doing our level best to ensure that only those who genuinely need the licence have it.

“We don’t want to have instances whereby people abuse the licence such as allowing others to trade using their licence or employ some workers to operate the stalls for them even though the stall is under their name.

“We have received complaints of such instances.”

Last year, the council carried out daily attendance and checked if persons operating the stalls were the licencees themselves, he said when asked on their monitoring.

Towards this end, Hii stressed that hawkers licence was meant for those needing it to make a living.