Suria KLCC, with over 320 stores, is a luxurious mall located directly beneath the Petronas Twin Towers.

It caters to middle and upper class Malaysians and tourists. 

Nearly 40 million people visit the mall every year, making it one of the busiest malls in Malaysia.

Almost everything in KLCC is fine, except the eateries.

Level 2 of KLCC boasts a food court filled with hawker stalls serving Malaysian food. However, the closest anyone would get to such “authenticity” would probably just be its name – Malaysian Hawker Food – and nothing more.

From the person who prepares the food to the person serving the dish, everyone is a foreign worker.

To me, the eateries represent Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh and many other delicacies from other nations rather than our own Malaysia.

Although I am aware and understand the reason for our dependency on foreign workers, the preparation of Malaysian food by a Malaysian compared to a foreigner is completely different.

The Malaysian food served here has lost its essence, taste and value. The chicken rice is tasteless, the mee hoon soup and the keoy teow soup are simply awful, the Penang nasi kandar is bland with no side dishes other than cabbage!

All these dishes are being prepared by foreign cooks. The Malaysian owners and proprietors are nowhere in sight.

It is totally baffling to allow such “profit-orientated” operators to manage their stalls at the heart of the tourist attraction in the capital city of Malaysia.

The food quality, taste, aroma and unique Malaysian flavors are the reasons we are known for our food and beverages, especially our teh tarik.

At the rate we are going, we will lose even this unique selling point (USP) that our country could once boast of.

We should no longer complain that Singapore is taking over or doing better with food that Malaysia was once known for, because the complaint will soon be a reality.

The reason for this situation is simple. The hawkers in Malaysia, excluding Penang, are allowing and engaging foreign workers to prepare the food.

Cuisines like fried koey teow, fried noodle, curry mee, curry laksa, hokkien mee, asam laksa, mee rebus, and mamak mee are our primary top sellers. If these cuisines and dishes are prepared by foreigners, we are done.

This is exactly what is happening in KLCC and any hawker outlets around the country.

You can visit the hawker food courts in Old Klang Road, Kepong, Masjid India or anywhere else and you will face the same predicament.

Foreign workers are left to prepare the food, with no respect for our authenticity or originality.

I would like to propose that we follow the Penang government’s move to ban foreigners from being the main cooks of local hawker fare from January 1, 2016; this proposal was well received by the majority of hawkers and related associations.  It has also restored the sanctity of Penang hawker food.

I would urge all local governments to follow this practice, thus helping to restore our Malaysian food standards and tastes.

Also, hawkers should not be issued licenses to operate more than one hawker outlet as they may be overstretching themselves in meeting their customers’ needs.

The city councils, local authorities and the KLCC management should seriously look into this issue.

Malaysia is struggling to earn extra income through tourism, and here we are facing a quality issue with our simple yet best foods that sell as “hot-cakes.”

The health inspectors at local authorities must make regular checks to ensure that no foreigners are preparing the cuisines. They can only serve or provide other services such as washing or cleaning.

Every Malaysian who patronizes these hawkers must provide their feedback and ensure that we collectively agree to improve the taste, aroma and quality of our food, thus maintaining our USP, a great selling point of our nation.

Rather than complaining that Singapore is doing well or taking away our cuisines from Malaysia, let’s keep our standards and quality as high as we possibly can by making sure it is a Malaysian standing at the stove, ladle in hand, cooking the meals and not foreigners preparing the dishes and cuisines instead.

Malaysia is known for its cuisines and beverages. Let’s remember that every little action of ours matters most.

Our hawkers are our biggest strength in establishing our name in this food sector.

Let’s not take it easy or nonchalant about our actions, deeds and enforcement in sustaining our name as “best food is always in Malaysia.”

(Ravindran Raman Kutty is an active social worker.)