Guidelines for liquor licenses to be ready next month, says FT Minister

The guideline for the issuance of new liquor licenses is expected to be ready next month, says Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

He said five new members had been appointed of the licensing board, and they were expected to convene a meeting next month.

“When they do meet, I hope the new guidelines which are more proper and orderly will be ready in order to help reduce such incidents as mentioned previously,” he told Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) during Minister’s Question Time.

Wong had asked the Ministry when the issuance of new liquor licenses would be allowed to resume.

Annuar explained that there was only a freeze of new licenses to sell liquor and not a suspension of licenses following a spate of road accidents involving drunk drivers nationwide, recently.

He added that the new board members would provide a clear guideline, adding that they could simply issue new liquor licenses.

“The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is of the view that it is reasonable to review the current practices in order to improve the situation for the safety of the public, so new licenses cannot be issued until proper guidelines are prepared,” he said.

He also revealed that a total of 2,096 liquor licenses were issued under the previous Pakatan Harapan government.

“Their licenses will expire only in Sept and not now, and so far, only about 200 have applied for a renewal.

“They still have plenty of time as the licenses have not expired,” said Annuar.

He also noted that there were only 69 new applications for liquor licenses.

“They only just submitted them and it can still be considered. Most importantly, when the new licenses are issued, we want to ensure that it will be orderly and proper.

“Recently, the liquor licenses are seen as too easy to obtain.

“Even in Singapore, there is a time limit when they can sell liquor, while in England, only certain premises can sell liquor.

“However, over here we see even sundry shops selling liquor at all times, so I feel we need to review all these.

“If there are proposals from the stakeholders, we welcome all to submit,” added Annuar. The Star