Corrupt Politician Protects Dirty Restaurant

There should not be any form of interference from politicians in the operations of local authorities, said Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng. Lim said he had received information from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) senior officers about politicians interfering in food safety and hygiene operations when they carried out spot checks on eateries (DBKL must name the politician interfering with DBKL). 

“The DBKL officers told me that on many occasions when a restaurant was closed for flouting cleanliness requirements, they would get a call from certain politicians ordering them to retract the closure notice. The officers felt that the outlet owner must have called the politicians to plead for leniency. These politicians were merely working to achieve their own ends and not for the welfare of the community,’’ he said.

This, he noted, had undermined the integrity of the council officers as well as the credibility of their operations.

“Which is why, on my part, I will advise my colleagues in Kuala Lumpur not to interfere in council affairs,’’ he said.

Lim advised city folk who found themselves in dirty eateries to snap photos as evidence and post it on social media, tagging DBKL.

“Name them and shame them,’’ he said.

He added that as consumers they should “boycott” food outlets that were not only dirty but had cockroaches and rats scurrying about.

“The power is in the consumers’ hands to reject dirty eateries as it is time for them to buck up,’’ he said.

On Monday, DBKL revoked the licence of Raj’s Banana Leaf Restaurant in Bangsar, after a 30-second video clip showing the restaurant’s poor food handling went viral on social media.It showed workers squatting at the back of the restaurant scrubbing and rinsing plates in what appeared to be a puddle of muddy water in a pothole next to a drain.

DBKL Health and Environment Department director Dr Noor Akma Shabudin said it was the first time the local authority decided to revoke the licence of a restaurant. The move was to put fear in the hearts of restaurant proprietors so that they would be held accountable for the actions of their employees.