Local Govt Minister Warns Eateries That Licences Won’t be Renewed if Their Toilets aren’t Clean

Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming has issued a warning to food and beverage premises operators in Malaysia to ensure that their toilets are up to standard in terms of cleanliness or risk not having their business licenses renewed.

Taking to his official social media account, including this post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Nga asserted,

“Since 1 January 2024, business licences won’t be approved if toilets are dirty. Remember!”

Demi menjaga kebersihan awam,pd Januari 2023 KPKT telah umumkan semua pengusaha F & B dlm kawasan bandaraya perlu pastikan tandas bertaraf BMW(bersih, menawan & wangi.) Mulai 1/1/24, lesen perniagaan tidak akan diluluskan jika tandas kotor. Ingat jgn tak ingat! @kpkt_gov @DBKL2u pic.twitter.com/mxD9uQKtcf

— Nga Kor Ming (@NgaKorMing) February 25, 2024

Toilets must be “BMW-standard”

In the post, the Local Government Development Minister also reminded that in order to maintain public cleanliness, his Ministry in January 2023 announced that all food and beverages operators in cities must have “BMW-standard” public toilets.

Introduced by the Ministry last year, BMW in this context doesn’t refer to the luxury car brand but an acronym for Bersih, Menawan and Wangi in Bahasa Melayu which roughly translates to English as clean, charming and fragrant.

As shared by the Democratic Action Party (DAP), of which Nga is the National Vice Chairman on 7 February 2023, the Local Government Development Minister said that starting in 2024, all food and beverages premise operators in cities must get an “A” certificate for toilet cleanliness. 

Nga further stressed that if this is not achieved, the renewal of business licences may be revoked.

The requirement was approved by the Cabinet in February

For illustration purposes

While the announcement in 2023 was only a proposal, the requirement for toilets to be clean has since been made into a regulation.

As reported by Sinar Harian, the regulation was approved during the Cabinet meeting on 2 February and will be enforced on all types of food and beverage premises, including restaurants, hotels and even warungs. 

The report added that all BMW-standard toilet certificates will involve approximately 18,000 public toilets through their respective municipal councils and city councils from 2025 to 2026.

For illustration purposes

So, what do you guys think of the statement by the Local Government Development Minister? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: M’sian Shares How Western Nations Don’t Have Many Public Toilets & You Usually Have to Pay to Use Them