A Thousand and One Licenses...

 

It is about time for the government to ease the conduct of businesses in the country. 

        I remember many years ago, Royal Selangor Pewter's founder Yong Poh Kon was asked to helm the Pemudah initiative. As a result, the procedures of certain government agencies were simplified. 

        This was an important initiative as bureaucrats are always seeking for quick `solutions' by introducing more licenses. 

Too Costly to Operate A Legitimate Business

        It goes without saying that with the creation of one additional license, it also means an opportunity for government officials who are on the take to ask for undertable money. 

        In some cases, it takes months before a license is issued, as the approval has to go through several stages. Unless it is "fasttracked", business people have always complained that bribery is a major problem whenever they have to apply for these licenses.

        It is only at the stage of approval but at the enforcement level. Without a proper license, a restaurant operator, for example, can be issued a summonse, while his neighbour carrying out all sort of illegal extensions outside the premises can get away without even a knock on their door by the same enforcement officers. 

        While having my lunch one day in Kepong, the supervisor of a restaurant was approached by three Kuala Lumpur City Hall Council about the foreign workers that the owner had hired. They wanted the phone number of the restaurant owner. 

        I was listening in the conversation. Because the supervisor himself was a foreign worker, I decided to ask the officers, "Why do you need to know the number of foreign workers?"

        He claimed that his new boss wanted the information. When I retorted saying that it has nothing to do with DBKL, the officer started to raise his voice. He did not know I knew the personal assistant to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and I could also bring the matter to the local Member of Parliament, Dr Tan Seng Giaw.

        After I raised the matter with Dr Tan, he brought it up to the City mayor. I am not sure what happened after that. 

        But, just to operate a restaurant, you will need at least ten different licenses depending on what you are offering: 

• Malaysia Signboard License
• Liquor License in Malaysia
• Halal License in Malaysia
• Music Authors’ Copyright Protection Berhad License (MACP) in Malaysia
• Public Performance Malaysia License (PPM)
• Food Establishment Licensing in Malaysia
• Food Handling License in Malaysia
• Malaysia Composite License
• Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) License in Malaysia

      Having just read my first draft of this article, a restaurant operator of an Italian restaurant immediately wrote to me: 

Hope they hear this.  Yes, its all about milking businesses.  In order to hv music in shops regardless if music is central to the business like a live band or performer, one has to pay the same.  Hence ive removed everything or risk a rm10k fine if u dont hv a license.  Then the music copyrights ....3 organisations as opposed to a combined licensing sometime back as they could not agree.  🤦🏻‍♂.  Then u  suddenly hv surprise inspectors from ministries who highlight archaic regulations n ask for free meals etc.

     Along with these licenses come the cost of applying for the license to operate the business. Sometimes, there are so many licenses that even a potential entrepreneurs find it hard to even start a business. 

       And when something tragic happens like the Batang Kali landslide, fingers will start pointing to the poor operator of the campsite who did not have a proper license. 

        Isn't this what we hear from Hulu Selangor Local Council? We never hear their admission of failure to check on these so-called "unlicensed" premises. Why? 

        But, as the campsite operator puts it at a press conference, he "could not apply for a campsite licence because such a permit does not exist." Period. 

        With this, I wonder if the local council will create another license called, "Camping License." This may be a tongue-in-cheek statement, but isn't it true what is happening in the country?

        I guess the solution should not be to hammer out another license for camping sites, but for what makes more sense -- if the landslide is due to soil movement, the root cause of the landslide must be monitored closely. 

        And, I think this is one area where the local authorities have failed miserably, not only in the Batang Kali tragedy but a number of other tragedies in the past, and in the future.

        Meanwhile, we are sad to see so many of them dead, and the operator of the organic farm, having done such a fabulous work in developing the farm may not even rebound while those so obsessed to advise the minister about licenses get away scots-free. 
 

Real Problems

        While there is a need to regulate any industry, the real problems with our Malaysian authorities is not the number of licenses that they can issue but they are killing the goose that lay the golden eggs. 

        What is lacking is both supervision and enforcement by the local authorities to the point that the 'bad apples' get away with a bribe, while those struggling to earn an honest living are being penalised. 

        The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission is fully aware of this happening on the ground, but not enough is being done to arrest the problem. 

        Meanwhile, what I hear is the intimidation by local council enforcement officers who would check on a premise for any fault that they could find. They would not leave until they are given a token. 

        While having a meal with Sungai Pelek state assemblyman, Ronnie Liu one afternoon, I noticed two or three Petaling Jaya City Hall enforcement walking into the restaurant in SS2, Petaling Jaya.

        We wanted to see what the officers would do. Before we realised it, they had walked into the kitchen. Soon after that, as I understand it, they had left the premises through the back door. 

        This is a scenario which most small business owners would experience with the boys in uniform. The local councils do not need to take offence with what I mention here, as they can, in fact, set up their own traps if they are serious about corruption.

        Over BFM radio, this subject was also brought up. A food outlet for example was asked to pay RM77,000 if he wanted to continue operating his business. The deposit was RM50,000 while the license (s) would be another RM27,000.

        I believe in the end, the business just 'died.' Over the years, we have seen video clips of a number of business operators and farmers experiencing the same problem. All their years of hard work is gone down the drain within just a few hours. 

Hypothetically Speaking

        So, what if the operator of Father's Organic Farm had a license to operate a camping site? A disaster would still happen, and this is beyond their control. Therefore, the license to operate the camp site is the last thing that one should even bring up when a disaster happens.

        It is just a convenient way for the local council to pick a scape goat. In my opinion, the fingers should point back at the local council as the regulatory body. 

        Did they monitor the slopes adquately? They are probably aware of the dangers of a landslide during heavy downpour, but why did they not stop the outdoor activities until the tragedy happened? 

        Just about two weeks ago we were still able to visit Taman Eko Rimba Sungai Kanching. Before the tragedy that happened in Batang Kali, no one thought about the dangers of having their picnics beside a waterfall during the monsoon season. 

        Should a disaster had happened in this eco-resort run by the Selangor State Government, and suddenly a big volume of water gushed down the waterfall, would any local authority point finger and blame it on the authority for not operating with a proper license? 

        We have already seen one tragedy after another, from the Highland Towers to the Pos Dipang tragedy, yet we have not learnt the hard lessons.

        Instead of looking at just the licenses, the local authorities should monitor closely the illegal land clearing activities on hills and make sure that even licensed contractors follow the correct procedures. 

        In most cases, it is the soil movement resulting from some land clearing of rainforests, not operating without a license, that destroy the environment and caused many of the landslides in most parts of the country.

       Moving forward, we should streamline all agency processes.  Each government agency should be tasked to reduce its own bureacracy in order to cut down on paper work. 

        Fewer licenses need to be put in place or maybe consolidated into one master license to facilitate business start-ups, but more enforcement and supervision should be carried out to ensure safety of all parties.