Malaysiakini : But who cares? What convention? Do they have to follow or comply? Detractors and critics can say what they want, but the belief is that the government knows best and that it can do no wrong.

A week after Parliament was dissolved, Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that Putrajaya had agreed in principle to waive some RM223.8 million in debts owed by Felcra settlers. How would this be stated in the books? Bad debts? Gifts? Election promises?

After the big money promise, on Thursday, he turned to hawkers and petty traders in the Klang Valley and the familiar long-forgotten “You help me, I help you” phrase thundered across Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur. (The man who created it and used it in elections is now languishing in Kajang Prison.)

Putting himself in the shoes of hawkers, he declared: "The hawkers are close to my heart. I was once a hawker myself when I was in primary school. I was a lemon hawker on the sidewalk and I even sold fish at the weekly market in Temerloh town.”

This was perhaps, when rent collection was little heard about, the odd fellow seeking some to supplement his income. Then, with the arrival of that doctor as the prime minister, middle persons mushroomed, multiplied and rent-seeking was transformed into an art and became entrenched as part of the administrative culture.

All about the money

These days, they are at it at all levels of the administration. You can’t supply any big-ticket medical equipment to the government without going through them. They sit and collect their millions doing nothing but lending their names “to do business”. Ditto for scores of their government supplies.

Lower down the rung are staff of local councils and political minnows who are said to be only getting the crumbs, but a heap has value - plenty of money.

Some of them and their relatives get choice stalls at hawkers’ complexes. Some get hawker licences while others wait in line for years. But some of these licensees don’t hawk anything - except their licences.

The system of pajak (leasing) sets back the entrepreneurial hawker. He pays a fee to use the licence of another and occupies the stall at up to 10 times the rate set by the local council. Walk around hawker centres and you will see one operator occupying three, sometimes more stalls.

Some of you must have come across a Hokkien mee stall operated by a Myanmar or a Vietnamese selling fish head curry or even a Bangladeshi selling tom yam by the roadside.

At the height of the movement control order two years ago, all foreign and unlicenced traders were removed from the peripherals of the Selayang wholesale market. They are back operating oblivious to the dozens of council officers who make daily visits. Doesn’t this say something?

How do they do it? Do they have licences? If not, why has no action been taken? The same old phrases - kau tim and setel are in operation. Now, you know why we come across hawker licences during the festive period changing hands for five-figure sums.

Signing blank cheque

Talking to the hawkers, Ismail Sabri committed himself: “That's why whatever request is made by the hawkers’ associations, I will definitely approve them.

“Maybe the hawkers’ association will come to see me with a memorandum, I have yet to read the letter. However, if this government returns to power, we will approve it.”

It was like signing a blank cheque. Ismail Sabri said that five hawkers and petty traders’ associations in the Federal Territories had submitted their memorandum to the caretaker government and believed they were mainly asking for allocations.

So, what do they do with the money? Will all of them benefit or only a selected few as past experiences have shown?

What hawkers and petty traders need is a conducive environment to ply their trade without harassment from any party or their earnings looted by the rent seekers and middlemen.

While competition is welcome, there must be a level playing field where everyone complies with the standard requirements of the law.

Ismail Sabri can start by insisting that all hawker stalls must be owner-operated and revoke the licences of those who choose to lease them and sit at home in their bungalows and collect regular stipends for doing nothing.

Wouldn’t this be a more equitable way of helping them instead of making empty promises and throwing away good money? Will local councils play ball or try hard to derail?