PETALING JAYA, Nov 2 (Sin Chew Daily) — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is urged to look into Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s harsh updated guidelines on the sale of liquor.

Tan Kok Wai, DAP chairman who is also the member of parliament for Cheras, said the conditions set in the guideline had violated the principle of Keluarga Malaysia advocated by the prime minister.

The updated guidelines on sale of liquor by the City Hall did not resolve the problems, he said.

Instead, the latest version of the guidelines was harsh, extreme, unreasonable and had infringed on the constitutional rights of non-Muslims, and was worse than last year’s version, he said.

“The latest guidelines have hurt the feelings of non-Muslims and should not be implemented,” he added.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall should explain its latest version of guidelines on the sale of liquor, as the conditions set were unreasonable.

Other local councils may follow Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s latest guidelines on the sale of liquor, he said.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall has imposed a ban on the sale of liquor at grocery stores, convenience stores as well as Chinese medicinal shops beginning November 1.

Customers can nevertheless still purchase beer at the said premises, but can only do so from 7am to 9pm daily.

Chinese medicinal halls, it said, must obtain approval from the Health Ministry to sell mixed or pure liquor for medicinal purposes.

Among others, premises selling the liquor must not be within 100 meters of police stations, houses of worship, schools, hospitals and residential homes.

Tan said the requirements for gatherings, promotion and activities which serve liquor to apply for temporary liquor permits were harsh.

“The guidelines have infringed on the constitutional rights of non-Muslims to consumption,” he said.

Liquor merchants do not sell to Muslims and therefore the sale of liquor does not violate the liquor ban on Muslims, he said.

“For more than a hundred years, Chinese medicinal shops have been selling liquor. No one would buy the liquor from the shop and consume it on the spot,” he added.

The guidelines would have an adverse impact on the tourism industry in Kuala Lumpur on its way to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.