Jalan Masjid India hawkers deny making payments to secure Ramadan bazaar lots

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of Jalan Masjid India hawkers said they did not make any payment to a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) Youth leader and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun to secure lots for a Ramadan bazaar.
Mohd Azman Abdul Rahman, who represented the group, said Bukit Bintang PPBM Youth chief Mohd Noorhisyam Abd Karim and Fong, had helped them obtain the licences.
"The lots were given to us for free this year after we requested for assistance and for once, we could operate our businesses legally here," he told reporters at Jalan Masjid India, here today.
The group was responding to reports that Mohd Noorhisyam had allegedly misused his political connections to secure 80 bazaar lots in Jalan Masjid India from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and that he had rented out the lots for as high as RM5,000 per lot through middlemen.
Fong was also caught in the fiasco for issuing a support letter to Noorhisyam to secure the lots.
Several reports have been lodged with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the matter.
Mohd Azman, who admitted that rent-seeking activity was common in Jalan Masjid India, said it did not involve the 80 bazaar lots.
"There was a confusion over Noorhisyam's name. There was another individual. He was the one involved in such activity," he claimed.
Yesterday, Fong was the latest person who had lodged a report with the MACC to urge them to launch an investigation into the licensing issue concerning the Bukit Bintang Ramadan bazaar.
Fong also wanted MACC to probe DBKL's Licensing and Petty Traders Development Department director, Anwar Mohd Zain, who had allegedly said that he was prompted to issue bazaar trading licenses after a support letter was issued by Fong.
Fong also claimed he found that DBKL had collected around RM4,000 for each trading lot.
He also reportedly said that the controversy over the rental of bazaar lots arose from the previous policies on how licenses were issued.