PETALING Jaya may experience an acute shortage of hot meals for one day.
The Coffee Bar and Restaurant Operators Association in Petaling Jaya is planning a one-day shutdown to protest against the new cleanliness guidelines introduced by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) recently.
A circular was distributed among restaurateurs to draw their attention to the compound fine of up to RM1,000, as well as Clause 25 which stipulates that the business licence of a food outlet will be revoked if it commits the same offence three times in a year.
It also highlighted that the new ruling, to be in effect from June onwards, "would seriously affecting the livelihood of restaurant operators to the extent of threatening their survival".
Letters have been sent to the association's 600-odd members on Friday to seek their support for the resolution.
"We have not fixed the date but many of our members have given their verbal support as all of us will feel the pinch," said association chairman Tang Sui Tee.
He said the association supported the council's move to ensure better cleanliness at food outlets for the benefit of consumers, but that the new guidelines were too stern.
"We have operators coming forward to say that they have been slapped with up to four compounds a day, and the fine for each offence has been increased drastically from RM250 to RM500 or RM1,000 now. This is taking a toll on us," he said.
He said the compounds were mostly issued during lunch hour for not wearing aprons, not installing grease trap, not putting licence numbers on signages and for placing tables and chairs on the five-foot-way.
"How much can we earn from a cup of coffee and a plate of mee? Times are bad and the fine is too high for us. We are not trying to create trouble here, we are merely voicing out our grouses," he said.
He added that the members could not highlight their problems during a meeting organised by MBPJ as each person was given only five minutes to speak.
While restaurant operators are up in arms, local leaders and residents are in support of the new ruling.
Kampung Tunku assemblyman Lau Weng San said it was high time the guidelines were enforced in view of the avalanche of complaints from consumers.
"The guidelines are comprehensive and are necessary to weed out stubborn operators who have been posing health risks to consumers. Of course, in the initial implementation, several items are being disputed and we allow discussions on their concerns, too," he said.
He also pointed out that the compound fine of up to RM1,000 had always been in existence on the legal provision.
All-Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Residents Associations Coalition (APAC) chairman Liew Wei Beng said the coalition was in full support of the new guidelines.
"The council is only trying to implement and enforce a necessary ruling so that the residents can enjoy dining in a clean environment, which has not been done all these while even when Petaling Jaya obtained city status," he said.
"I think this is a confrontational approach by the association and I don't think they should do this," he added.
MBPj councillor Michael Soon said the matter would be resolved soon as state exco member Ronnie Liu had called for a meeting with the restaurant and coffeeshop owners on Friday.
"While we take note of their operational problems, we do not want to compromise on hygiene and cleanliness which all residents demand. In fact residents are very happy that at last MBPJ is taking a serious view on public hygiene," he said.
He highlighted that the compound fines of RM1,000 was not a new rule as it was gazetted in 2007 under the by-laws of the Local Government Act.
"Sometime in March, the MBPJ enforcement officers were using new hand-held computers to issue compounds. These new machines have no option for the user to change the compounds to lower amounts. Since the act provides for RM1,000, the legal and IT department programmed the hand-held computers to the maximum fine allowed. However, this issue has already been resolved as all the machines have been re-programmed to RM250 since April," he said.
"Pertaining to the three-strike rule, which is having three compounds for the same type of offence, it appears punitive. But eateries can accumulate dozens of compounds as long as they do not cross the three compounds for the same offence. Currently, some eateries accumulate up to 45 compounds each year and this is not good," he said.
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