Govt awards RM10,000 each to five 'BMW-class' toilets

 

The Housing and Local Government Ministry hosted the inaugural Toilet of the Year awards last night, in recognition of efforts to make ‘BMW-class’ public toilets.

‘BMW’ stands for bersih, menawan, dan wangi (clean, attractive, and fragrant).

Five entities received awards during the ceremony which included a RM10,000 cash prize each.

The awards were split up into five categories, that is for petrol stations, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, and rest and recreational (RnR) toilets.

There were 345 entrants for the awards, with 15 finalists.

The winners were The George, Penang (hotel category) Toppen Shopping Mall, Johor Bahru (shopping centre), Elmina South-Bound (RnR), Petron Senai, Johor (petrol station) and Cawan Mu Ipoh, Perak (restaurants).

Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming - who presented the awards - said he plans to expand the categories next year so that local councils and schools can participate as well.

Nga not flushed by ‘toilet minister’ label

Nga also brushed off criticisms that he was a "toilet minister" after announcing the ‘BMW’ toilets programme earlier this year.

"At the early stages, many criticised me and some called me a ‘toilet minister’, but I don't care because what is more important to me are clean toilets," he said.

He added that dirty public toilets gave a bad impression to tourists about Malaysia.

To further this mission, Nga said that starting in 2024, eateries with dirty toilets will not have their business licences renewed.

Clean toilets have become an important policy for the Anwar Ibrahim administration.

In Budget 2024, the government allocated RM150 million for the maintenance of public toilets under the purview of local councils.

The prime minister has also been pushing hard to keep school toilets clean - with the aim of fixing 8,354 school toilets by year-end.

"It was unthinkable that all this while we had allowed our children to go to school with poor facilities, especially those with broken and unmaintained toilets," the prime minister said during his Budget 2024 speech. - Mkini