Restaurant owner seeks court order on piped music

 

One of the restaurants in Bangsar where patrons were issued compound notices because it played piped music. (Siva Shankar pic)

PETALING JAYA: A restaurant owner is seeking a declaration from the Kuala Lumpur High Court that there is no requirement for a licence to play piped music under the Entertainment (Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) Act 1992.

Siva Shankar said he filed the action last month following an incident in December in which police issued compound notices to patrons of two restaurants in Bangsar where piped music was being played.

FMT has been shown a notice that was issued to one patron under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988. The notice said the patron was found to have been (at a venue) “playing music during the CMCO (conditional movement control order)”.

According to Siva, the enforcement officers said any form of music was considered “entertainment” and fell under the act.

However, he said, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had always maintained that piped music was not licensed under the Entertainment Act and did not constitute an entertainment activity.

“We are not suing DBKL. We are just seeking a declaration that playing piped music is not an act of entertainment,” he said.

“Anyone can play piped music and you don’t need a licence for that. Piped music is played in supermarkets, malls and other public places. Playing piped music has never been on the negative list of the National Security Council.

“We have no choice but to seek a declaration to set the matter straight for the benefit of all restaurants and bar owners, PDRM officials and the general public.”

Speaking to FMT after police ordered restaurants and bars at Jalan Telawi, Bangsar, to momentarily stop serving alcohol last Friday, Kuala Lumpur police chief Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said “only piped music” could be played at such premises.

Ghanendren Raghavan, a customer who was issued a compound notice during the incident last December, told FMT police seemed “a bit uncertain”.

Ghanendren said police issued the notices to patrons for failing to observe social distancing despite initially telling them they were given compounds for being in an area which had music.

He said he would be willing to be fined if he had flouted standard operating procedures.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen. The fine would have been all right if I didn’t wear a mask or use the MySejahtera app to check in at places. But they are fining us for something that is not even a mistake. I don’t know why. Is it because the virus can come out of the speakers?” - FMT