No to cybercafe owners

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THE Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) clarified that the council stopped issuing licences to cybercafe operators since 2007 upon a directive from the state government.

Since then, MPAJ has been closely monitoring the existing 60 cybercafes for any illegal activities or failure to abide by rules set by them.

Over the period, 10 cybercafes were stripped off their licences for not following the rules.

MPAJ president Datuk Moham-mad Yacob said the council did not give any licences to new cybercafe operators.

Instead, MPAJ only renewed licences annually for the existing businesses.

“Even then, we only renewed licences after checking if the cybercafes complied to what was required of them,” he said after the fullboard meeting yesterday.

Some of the offences include operating past midnight, selling food and letting students clad in school uniforms into the premises.

Children under 12 are also not allowed in a cybercafe, unless they are accompanied by an adult guardian.

Mohammad said the council only had the power to issue or cancel licences.

Therefore, when there are complaints on cybercafes conducting illegal gambling activities, the council works with the police to nab the offenders.

“We have no power to nab offenders. That’s why our raids to cybercafes are normally a cooperation with the police,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Mohammad said there were 50 companies in the area that had an outstanding assessment arrears of RM10,000 and more.

The total arrears for the companies are RM3.3mil.

Mohammad said the council had given notices to the companies to pay up and even visited the premises to remind the owners.

The next approach would be legal action, which will be taken after the Hari Raya holidays.

“We have given them ample warning and notices, so the next step is going to be legal action,” he said.

The offenders can be charged under Section 218 of the Companies Act.

“Some of the companies may be in a bad financial situation. So they can negotiate with us for a revised assessment, however they still need to pay up their outstanding arrears,” he said.