Nothing to stop states from enforcing liquor licence law, says Guan Eng

 

Lim Guan Eng says he fears for states under the influence of ‘the extremist PAS’ when it comes to the ruling on liquor licence for coffee shops and restaurants.

PETALING JAYA: There is nothing to stop state governments from enforcing laws that require coffee shops and restaurants to have a licence to sell alcoholic beverages, Lim Guan Eng said today.

The DAP secretary-general said the finance ministry may have revoked the customs department directive to local governments to ensure that these premises have a liquor licence, but it did not explicitly prevent the local authorities from enforcing the ruling anyway.

He was responding to transport minister Wee Ka Siong’s statement earlier today that the finance ministry would scrap the implementation of the liquor licences for the sale of alcoholic beverages in coffee shops and restaurants.

Wee had said he had contacted finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who had cancelled the directive and promised to instruct the customs department to abide by the decision.

It was earlier reported that coffee shops and restaurants must apply for a liquor licence, which costs between RM840 and RM1,320 a year, if they want to continue selling beer and stout at their premises from Jan 1.

In a statement, Lim criticised the finance ministry for “letting the state authorities decide” on implementing the liquor licence requirement.

“This means some state governments may still decide to impose the liquor licence fee of up to RM1,300,” the former finance minister said.

He added that while it may not be an issue for Pakatan Harapan-controlled states, it may be a problem “for other state governments, especially those influenced by the extremist PAS”.

Lim urged the federal government to revert to the previous position that automatically allowed coffee shops and restaurants to continue selling beer and stout without the need for a liquor licence.

Previously, there was no enforcement of a regulation requiring liquor licences for the sale of beer in coffee shops and restaurants as state governments considered it within the purview of the finance ministry.

The issue first emerged after the customs department issued circulars in June and August to senior officers as well as local authorities saying it would enforce the liquor licence requirement on all restaurants and coffee shops. - FMT