Imposing licence fee payment onto entertainment outlet operators adds on financial burden to the people. As renewal of licence would be needed to operate entertainment businesses, operators might find it hard to come out with a lump sum of money in every six month or a year.
Though there were certain quarters who refused to pay licence fee, the Kedah state government should not punish those who play by the rule.
It should, instead, get to the root of the problem, and identify the black sheep among all the operators in Kedah. With the ability of the PAS-led state government, it shouldn't be too difficult a task to do so, right?
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MCA: Kedah govt's biannual licence fee payment a half-baked solution
By EMBUN MAJID
ALOR SETAR: Kedah MCA has described the new six-month entertainment licence fee payment as a half-baked solution to the problems faced by entertainment outlet operators.
Kedah MCA chairman Datuk Chong Itt Chew said the new ruling still put financial burden on the operators.
"They would then have to impose higher charges on their consumers to recoup the expenditure.
"The current monthly scheme was practical as operators may opt to halt operations should business be slow and there would be no need for them to renew their licence for that particular month," he said.
Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak was reported as saying that entertainment outlet operators could now pay their licence fees every six months or yearly.
He said the state executive council made the decision following complaints from operators that they would be financially burdened with paying a hefty sum every year.
The directive affected all entertainment outlets, including cinemas, karaoke and snooker centres and cybercafes.
He added that the decision was made following several cases of operators who skipped paying the monthly licence fees.
Chong said despite the outrage by operators against the directive, the response given by the PAS-led state government by reverting to biannual payment still did not address the hardship of the operators.
Chong said in a statement Thursday that the six-month payment endorsed by the state executive council meeting showed the failure of the three PKR non-Muslim exco members to protect the rights of non-Muslims and the income of the licence holders.
Meanwhile, MCA Gurun assemblyman Dr Leong Yong Kong in a statement said the state should investigate the reason why some operators skipped paying the monthly fee instead of punishing about 3,000 operators by imposing the lump sum payment.
"Could it be that they did not pay the licence fee due to poor business turnover for that month?
"Or maybe they decided to cease operations altogether?" he asked.
He said a reminder should be sent to licence holders who missed payment, including notices to pay up the sum before legal action was taken against them.
Source: The Star
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