Public Calls For Proper Relocation Of Food Stalls
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Curious people witness the demolition of illegal roadside food stalls.

Bandar Seri Begawan - Members of the public held high praise for the relevant agencies for their integrated efforts in dismantling illegal stalls in an operation conducted in Mukim Pengkalan Batu last Saturday night.

However upon hearing and witnessing the demolition process through the national radio and television channels, some observers said they were hoping for the operation to be conducted nationwide and not just in one or two places.

"The stall operators nationwide must be given ample warning through the national television and the mass media that the authorities will dismantle the illegal stalls by a certain date if they continue to exist," they said.

"Failure to do so may force the relevant authorities to take action," they said, adding that legal action should be taken against the operators so as to prevent illegal stalls from continuing to sprout everywhere.

However, they also called for commercial alternatives to be given to the illegal stall operators for them to conduct legitimate business.

"They need help to conduct business and we should make things easier for them, not harder," they said.

The observers added a proper relocation of illegal stalls would not only help bridge the economic divide between the operators and their more successful counterparts based in commercial areas but could also serve as a model strategy for integration and create economies of scale in an increasingly interdependent world.

They said most of the operators of illegal stalls were small traders who need to sell their products to sustain a living.

"Some of them were unemployed young people, divorcees and widowers who need to sell agricultural products to sustain a living," said one observer.

"Denying them a modest living through the sale of farm products without providing alternatives would be too much of a burden for them," they said.

They added the illegal stall operators did not have any other options with which they could earn a living. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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