90 per cent of the Malaysian city's budget lodgings are fire traps and dens for immoral activities. -NST
Keywords
ALOR STAR, MALAYSIA - Checks by the Alor Star City Council recently revealed that 90 per cent of the city's budget lodgings are fire traps.
The council also found that many such places were also converted into dens for immoral activities, including gambling and prostitution.
Checks were conducted on about 100 budget lodgings, including rooms-for-rent in housing areas, budget hotels and homestays, following public complaints on the proliferation of "instant" guest houses and homestays in many parts of the city.
There were also complaints that some of the outlets hired foreigners, especially women, as workers. This gave rise to public concern that some of them might be hired as sex workers.
Council licensing division head Azizan Md Zain confirmed that a majority of the budget lodgings inspected were set up illegally.
He said action had also been taken against operators who hired illegal foreign workers.
He said anyone flouting the Kota Setar Municipal Council Subsidiary Legislation on Guesthouses Monitoring, 1988, faced a fine of RM2,000($817) or a year's imprisonment or both.
Repeat offenders also face a daily maximum compound of RM200.
Kedah Working Committee Against Immoral Activities coordinator Kamaruddin Kassim said the state government should step up efforts to close down illegal lodging facilities.
He said the problem was serious due to lax enforcement.
"We have all the laws to check the activities but we lack the willpower to do so.
"The state government should coordinate a joint effort comprising the police, Islamic religious department and the various local authorities to check the problem," he added.
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