Minister wants bars, night clubs' licence revoked for defying order against reopening
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wants local councils to get tougher on pubs and night clubs that insist on resuming operations during the current recovery movement control order (MCO) phase which is intended to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
Ismail said while there has been a lot of easing during the recovery MCO phase which began on June 10, the government has not allowed bars and nightclubs to resume operations...
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wants local councils to get tougher on pubs and night clubs that insist on resuming operations during the current recovery movement control order (MCO) phase which is intended to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
Ismail said while there has been a lot of easing during the recovery MCO phase which began on June 10, the government has not allowed bars and nightclubs to resume operations.
"I would like to remind that even though we have given a lot of leeway but entertainment outlets such as bars, night clubs and similar businesses are still not allowed (to operate).
"We have asked the local councils to revoke the licences of premises that continue to do entertainment activities and shut them down.
"We hope there will be tougher action from the local councils," he said during a remote briefing from his home.
Ismail is presently under quarantine after being in the same meeting with Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri who later tested positive for Covid-19.
Ismail's statement came after the bulk of police action yesterday involved violations related to entertainment outlets.
He said police yesterday took action against 674 individuals for violating standard operating procedures (SOP) against Covid-19 by issuing 563 compounds while 91 people were remanded.
He said almost half of the offences, or 325, were related to entertainment outlets.
He added that 170 people were also caught not wearing face masks, 80 did not record their details when visiting business premises and 53 failed to follow social distancing rules.
"Basic SOP is not being complied with. I hope everyone will follow the SOP set by the government," he said.
The country went into lockdown on March 18 under the MCO and gradually the rules began to ease, first with the conditional MCO on May 4 and now the recovery MCO which will last until the end of the year.
Under the recovery MCO, almost all activities were allowed to resume but with certain SOP. However, certain entertainment outlets such as night clubs are still not allowed to open.
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