PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet has instructed the relevant parties to amicably resolve the Government's licensing rule on controlled items, said MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said instructions were given to the Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Association, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, and the MCA to discuss and settle the issue.

"We (The MCA) are listening to the federation's grouses. Currently, sundry shop operators have to obtain 11 licences for operating their business.

"We have conveyed their problems to the Cabinet and hope the involved parties can find a solution that will not further burden sundry shop operators and retailers," he told reporters after attending the naming of the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Launching of the Pharmacy programme at the Monash University Sunway Campus here Monday.

It was earlier reported that federation members would stop selling sugar, cooking oil and flour in protest over the Government's licensing rule.

However, about 150,000 grocery shop owners and retailers have said they would not support the boycott.

Liow said the federation had the right to make the boycott call and he respected it.

"The MCA will help to mediate the situation," he said.

Meanwhile, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said there would be enough sugar available in sundry shops as only a small number of the shops in cities were part of the boycott.

He said about 800 shops would be joining the boycott.

"More than 12,000 sundry shops have applied for the licence and consumers do not have to worry about the boycott,” Ismail Sabri told reporters at a conference the Malaysian Television Producers' Association’s (PTVM) annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur.