Alcohol Issue in Selangor - Taken from theStarOnline

Saturday August 8, 2009

Set up disciplinary panel to punish Hassan, Pakatan urged

PETALING JAYA: Selangor DAP has called on the Pakatan Rakyat leadership to set up a disciplinary committee to punish Selangor PAS state commissioner Datuk Dr Hassan Ali.

Its deputy chairman, Tony Pua, said Pakatan would face repeated breaches of discipline if the committee was not set up.

In a press conference yesterday, Pua questioned Dr Hassan’s motive in his open rebuke of state executive councillor Ronnie Liu who had done his duty by returning illegally seized goods to its rightful owner.

In another development, the Selangor Umno Youth said it supported the Shah Alam City Council’s move to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages in Muslim-majority areas in the state.

“We hope the council would not be afraid of pressure from any quarters while enforcing its laws,” Shah Alam youth chief Azhari Shaa told reporters after leading some 100 people to the council building to present a memorandum to Mayor Mazalan Md Noor yesterday.

Azhari said the youth movement also supported the council’s move to seize 70 cans of beer from a 7-Eleven outlet in Section 8 on July 29.

On Selangor’s move to allow convenience stores to practise self-regulation when selling alcohol, Azahari said the state could do whatever it wanted but Umno Youth would stand by the council’s decision.

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) meanwhile weighed in by proposing that the sale of alcohol at 24-hour convenience stores in residential areas be stopped.

Its secretary-general, Muham- mad Sha’ani Abdullah, said children and teenagers would have easy access to alcohol if it was sold openly.

“We are not talking about banning alcohol.

“We are talking about controlling its sale,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Muhammad Sha’ani said the federation has been misconstrued as supporting PAS’ proposal to ban the sale of alcohol in Muslim-majority areas in Selangor.