A GROUP OF market traders in Pekan Subang and business operators in Taman Subang Perdana are upset about a proposal to relocate the traders from their present trading site to Taman Subang Perdana. Pekan Subang and Taman Subang Perdana are both located in Shah Alam.
“We had heard about the proposed relocation, and received a notice in late January informing us to move from Pekan Subang to Subang Perdana,” said Kampung Baru Subang Traders Association chairman Said Ali Fazaludin, whose association represents about 300 traders who operate a daily morning market and weekly night market in Pekan Subang.
The notice stated that the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) had approved the opening of the Subang Perdana Night Market for business, and the Pekan Subang Night Market had to be closed effective from Feb 19.
The notice also stated that the traders should register with the Zone 17 MPP (residents’ representative council) to facilitate the relocation process.
“We had never been informed of the relocation by the MBSA in writing until the notice was issued out of the blue,” said Said.
“The traders were also verbally asked to pay RM40 per trader to the Zone 17 MPP. We were told that fee would be a one-off payment for those who would like to reserve a trading lot at the new site.”
He said the traders are against the relocation as they have been trading in Pekan Subang for more than 30 years, and they are concerned that any money paid would go to the MPP and not the council.
Meanwhile, tuition centre operator Kow Yoke Kuan and clinic owner Dr SP Vikneswari said the business operators in Taman Subang Perdana do not want the traders to be relocated to the commercial area due to concerns about traffic congestion, cleanliness, security and businesses being affected.
“We were never given any notice about the relocation, and only found out when trading lot lines were drawn for the new market that would be located in front of our premises,” said Kow.
“We contacted MBSA councillor/ MPP Zone 17 chairman James Ng to object against the relocation, but he said the relocation had already been approved by the MBSA.”
Both the market traders and business operators want the situation to remain status quo and not for the relocation to take place.
Both parties feel they had been misled by Ng and the Zone 17 MPP, as they claim that Ng has been giving conflicting information to the parties involved in the matter.
The traders also hope the MBSA would also assist them with their licence application process, as the traders have not been asked to pay for any licences since the MBSA took over the area’s administration from the previous Petaling District Council.
The market traders and business operators highlighted their grievances to Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim during a meeting on Wednesday.
After listening to both parties, Dr Nasir said he wanted them to submit a chronology of events on the matter and a memorandum of protest (if any) to him, after which he would arrange for a meeting with the MBSA within a week or two to thrash out the issues.
When contacted, Ng said the MPP was carrying out its role as a facilitator or middleman to sort out the problem.
“The idea to relocate the traders was to resolve the traffic congestion in Pekan Subang and to reorganise them to weed out the foreign and illegal traders,” he said.
“We are trying to find a win-win situation for the traders and business operators. The RM40 fee that the traders had to pay would go to the MBSA to facilitate the relocation processs and to the association to manage the traders.
“My role as a councillor and the MPP is to help. We are not here to create problems and there are no self-interests involved,” said Ng.
