PETALING JAYA: More than 1,000 Indian shops nationwide shut their doors for a day in protest over the Global Indian Festival (GIF) which gives foreign traders an avenue to sell their goods directly to shoppers. The protest, led by the Malaysian Indian Textiles and General Stores Association (Mita), cost the Indian business community an estimated RM20mil in loss of income but Mita secretary R. Maheswary said the community was willing to take the hit to send a strong statement to the Government. Besides textile stores, goldsmiths, newspaper vendors, restaurants, vegetable sellers and flower shops in George Town, Brickfields, Lebuh Ampang, Klang and Sungai Petani also pulled down their shutters yesterday. Klang’s Little India, situated on and around Jalan Tengku Kelana, was literally a ghost town as some 280 shops stayed shut. Maheswary said the protest also extended to Johor Baru, Malacca and Ipoh. “All Indian trades, namely textile, silver brass, handicrafts, costume jewellery, herbs and spices, have been so badly affected by the business operations at carnivals that some small shops have closed down and the bigger ones are on the verge of bankruptcy,” she said. “During Deepavali last year, (traders in) Brickfields lost 70% of their business as there was an expo in KL Sentral and Bukit Jalil,” she said. She said these expos and carnivals were first organised for foreign traders to exhibit their goods to local traders. “However, they started selling to local consumers at a low rates,” she said. Maheswary said these were “fly-by-night” traders who could undercut local retailers as they had low overheads, compared to Malaysian businesses who have to pay rent, utility bills, loans, wages and an assortment of taxes. In George Town, a group staged a peaceful demonstration and marched within Market Street, King Street and Penang Street carrying placards and banners shouting “Bantah carnival” (Protest against carnival) and “Say no to illegal foreign traders.” While most shops stayed closed, the stalls in the Liga Muslim Bazaar Ramadan and the rest of the shops in Queen Street were not affected by the closure. Malaysian Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Penang branch president N. Vasantharajan, who led the protest, said the traders were willing to forgo sales of between RM5,000 and RM20,000 each, following the day-long closure from 9am to 9pm merely to prove a point. “We do not want the foreign traders who take part in GIF to rob us of our only good sale for the year, which is during Deepavali,” he said. State Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow, who received a memorandum from Vasantharajan, said he would raise their plight with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. “We sympathise with the traders here and on our part, we have helped reduce the number of days of GIF from 10 days to five days since last year,” he said. The Penang GIF 2013 is scheduled to be held at the subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre (sPICE) from Aug 7 to 11. thestar.my/News/Nation/2013/07/17/Indian-shops-keep-doors-closed-Community-makes-a-stand-in-spite-of-losses.aspx?utm_source=also_see&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=TRON_RS_NEWS_Widget
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 08:43:25 +0000
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