Amanah MP calls for separate premises for sale of alcohol and tobacco

(The Star) – A Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) parliamentarian has called for the Government to allocate separate premises for the sale of alcohol and tobacco products.

Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood said the move would benefit Muslim staff at convenience stores.

Speaking during a debate on Budget 2017, the Kota Raja MP explained that she was aware of the different requirements to sell distilled alcohol and malt products.

“Liquor licenses are only required by premises selling distilled alcohol such as wine while malt products such as beer are more readily available.

“The problem is when a Muslim employee who works in a store like 7-Eleven has to deal with this scenario, and I also mean cigarettes actually.

“So if possible, I would like to suggest a long term plan to the Government to ensure all ‘prohibited’ products are kept separate and sold only at certain premises,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.

Dr Siti Mariah added that such a rule would also make enforcement easier and more systematic, noting that it would be ideal for Muslim populated areas.

She said it would aid in ensuring the money made from the sale of non-syariah compliant products could be used to pay the country’s debts while clean money could be used to pay government servants and parliamentarians.

She, however, turned down the suggestion by Pengkalan Chepa MP Dr Izani Hussin who called for the taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to be increased.

“The taxes for cigarettes is already rising, as for alcohol, if we increase it, it would be unfair to the non-Muslims,” she said.

Dr Siti Mariah brought this up after asking the Government to clarify the amount received from “sin taxes”, which are taxes made from alcohol, gambling and tobacco.