SOCIAL media has been abuzz with news of myBurgerLab’s close shave with the authorities recently.
The burger chain said that authorities had wanted to slap it with a RM25,000 fine after a staff ate at its Sunway outlet shortly before clocking in for his shift. The staff member had yet to change into his staff uniform at that time.
While Bukit Aman has since clarified that the dine-in ban at restaurants and eateries is only targeted at customers and that employees are allowed to eat inside the shop, the incident only reaffirms the fact that the existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) are deeply flawed, and not to mention, unclear and confusing.
Sure, the SOPs outlined by the National Security Council (NSC) are clear that restaurants and eateries are only allowed to provide takeaway and delivery services, it has never specified whether employees are allowed to eat inside the shop during lunch break.
This then begs the question: When will the Government ever come up with clear movement control order (MCO) rules? More importantly, what is stopping them from doing so from the very beginning?
Why can’t the rules be clear, with no room for confusion, from the get-go?
Make no mistake, the aforementioned incident is only one of many. One doesn’t have to be overly familiar with social media to find plenty of similar stories on social media about restaurant owners who have been unjustly slapped with absurd fines.
So please, rather than sending the men in blue after honest business owners and claiming that the lockdown and the ‘strict’ take-no-prisoners approach is for the betterment of the economy, maybe it’s high time that the powers that be return to the drawing board and come up with rules that actually make sense.
Don’t forget, the purpose of the MCO must be to combat the spread of the coronavirus. It must not be used as an excuse to go around finding faults with people who are doing the best they can to survive the latest round of lockdown in the first place. – May 21, 2021
