State local government, traffic management and flood mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said councils in the state conduct routine checks on all food outlets to ascertain if they follow the regulations and bylaws.
The cafe in question is the Kaffa King Cafe on Lebuh China that belongs to Patrick Ooi, the same businessman who owns the Kaffa cafe at the Penang International Airport that had its illegally built toilet demolished by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) last Wednesday.
Ooi’s Lebuh China outlet was also summoned for not having an operating license and for not taking steps to prevent pests like rats, cockroaches, flies, insects and other vermin from breeding.
The visit by the council came two days after the toilet demolition, leading Ooi to question whether he was being made to pay for criticising Lim in the Chiness press earlier last week.
“It was a routine check. There were five outlets checked on the same street including his cafe last Friday.
“The council checks both licensed and unlicensed food outlets to grade them on cleanliness. It is also to determine which cafes deserve awards on Hawkers’ Day,” he told reporters today at his Jalan Kedah service centre.
“Summonses may be issued to get the owner to comply with certain regulations or make improvements. Those that score under 60 points will be ordered to close by the Health Department, not the council.
“For this year, up to last Friday, the city council checked 1,176 premises, and 304 were graded A, 679 B and 146 C,” Chow said.
Penang Barisan Nasional parties Gerakan and MCA had also linked the enforcement action against Ooi’s cafes to his recent critical remarks against Lim. It was reported that Ooi, a Chinese educationist, had criticised Lim’s leadership and his recent outbursts against Chinese newspapers.
Chow said the illegal toilet issue cropped up in January. Kaffa had appealed before the toilet was torn down.
“Things had been in process since January. There were no external factors. The first enforcement action was in July but was postponed because the owner appealed.
“A building plan was sent in August for the toilet but in September, the council rejected it. The architect was told the reason for the rejection and informed that summary action – a demolition – would be taken.
“A building inspector surveyed the toilet and when he saw no action had been taken to tear down the illegal structure, the officer made a request for it to be torn down.
“Arrangements were made with the enforcement unit, utility providers and the police and Dec 21 was the date chosen. It was a coincidence that it happened after the owner made statements to the press,” he said.
Chow admitted that he had earlier given Ooi “general advice” to submit the drawings for the toilet to the council, but in the end the submission was rejected because “planning permission was required”.
“I can only give general advice. The owner can ask the submitting architect for details,” he said.
But Ooi disagrees that it was a mere enforcement exercise, as explained by Chow. He said he had enforcement officers visit his premises in Penang three times in four days.
“They went to Lebuh China and found rat droppings, but it was outside at the corridor. We have pest control inside the cafe.
“It cannot be such a coincidence, can it? All that happened over four days after my statements were out in the Chinese press,” he said, adding that a DAP councillor in Seberang Prai had posted on Facebook for action to be taken against his cafe at the airport on Dec 20, a day before the demolition.
Speaking to FMT, Ooi said even the airport was surprised that his cafe toilet, which was built almost three years ago, had become a problem.
He said the toilet cost him RM30,000, and almost RM25,000 more to pay for fines and get the plans drawn and submitted to the council.