Hassan Malek to meet Suria KLCC management over forced relocation

The government wants the management of Suria KLCC to explain its order to home grown business, BritishIndia to relocate to another spot in the shopping mall.

Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Datuk Seri Hasan Malek said the management's action is clearly against the aspiration of the country to promote its local products at a popular tourist destination such as the mall.

“I have asked the officer-in-charge whether or not there are ways for us to review the rights of the premise owners to allocate shops selling local products.

“I have brought this issue to the higher management and I want to meet up with the management of Suria KLCC next week to discuss this,” he said when contacted here today.

On Wednesday, the founder of BritishIndia, Pat Liew filed an injunction against the management's order. The injunction hearing is on Feb 24.

The action received the support of UMNO youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin who on Facebook had requested the management to play a role in supporting local brands.

Khairy also acknowledged that most of the premises carrying local products were “hidden” in the shopping mall.

In the meantime, Hasan urged the Suria KLCC management to follow the footsteps of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA 2 that places local products in strategic locations and accessible to visitors.

“The Suria KLCC management cannot be driven solely by profit and take such actions against the business dealers.

“I will investigate and if there are laws that can be used, I will take actions. I will also get the management to explain why they resorted to such actions,” he added.