PETALING JAYA: It was the “worst Friday” for restaurant and bar owners in the popular Telawi area of Bangsar this weekend after police raids caused confusion over whether sales of alcoholic drinks were permitted under the movement control order (MCO).
Claiming that they had suffered 80%-90% loss of business after police raids in the area on Friday, the restaurant owners said they will seek a meeting with officials of the National Security Council (MKN), Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the police.
Restaurant Bar Owners Association spokesman Joshua Bilique urged the government to come up with consistent rules that apply across the board to all establishments that sell alcoholic drinks.
“We need a clear-cut, fair announcement that applies across the board. Have a level-playing field for all the restaurants and bars in Kuala Lumpur,” he said. “The whole town must have the same rules.”
Telawi restaurant owners were thrown into confusion on Friday when police said the establishments were not allowed to serve liquor.
“Yesterday, at 4pm, the police told us we cannot serve alcohol at our bars. Then at 8.30pm they said we can serve alcohol but not from the bar. By that time, all of our customers had opted to go someplace else,” Bilique said.
He said the raid affected only the Telawi area and restaurants and bars in other areas of Kuala Lumpur were left unscathed.
“We don’t really know what is going to happen over the next week. It is usually a big deal for us on Fridays. But now we have losses from unused alcohol and also wasted food supplies,” Bilique said.
“We had full reservations and then after the raid, it became completely empty”.
He added that restaurants were also operating at less than half capacity.
“There are already fewer customers and at the same time, no business on Friday nights – one of the only times when we can make money.”
Bilique contended that MKN has said that restaurants and bars are allowed to stay open and serve alcohol and that only nightclubs and pubs were not allowed to open.
He said the raids had left a bad impression on customers who would now think the Telawi area, usually a popular attraction for customers every Friday and Saturday night, was now a “hot spot” for police action enforcing the MCO.
“Everybody is afraid that they’ll get fined. The customers won’t come anymore. They would think Bangsar is now unsafe.”
He said restaurant owners were also threatened with fines.
Bilique said the restaurants had been able to take in as much as RM20,000 on a Friday night before the Covid-19 pandemic, but receipts were down to RM5,000 during the recovery MCO last year.
On Friday, police visited about 30 bars and restaurants in the Telawi area at 4pm, saying that they were acting based on rules set by the MKN.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Saiful Azly Kamaruddin later told FMT that “premises which have a bar-and-restaurant licence cannot open their bar counters”. When told that the owners claimed they were operating with a restaurant licence, he replied: “Then restaurants should sell food only.”
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/02/21/have-clear-rules-say-bangsar-restaurants-after-worst-friday/