Alcohol ban should apply to all shops along Thaipusam routes, say NGOs

 

A three-day ban on the sale of alcohol has been imposed on five outlets along the procession route for the Thaipusam festival. (Bernama pic)

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) should have imposed the three-day alcohol sale ban on all shops selling liquor along the procession routes of the two chariots carrying the statue of Lord Muruga for the Thaipusam festival, say two NGOs.

Earlier today, Penang mayor Rajendran Anthony clarified that the three-day ban on the sale of alcohol only involved five premises selling alcohol within the vicinity of the Waterfall Hilltop Temple, and not all 56 shops located along the procession routes.

The blanket ban imposed earlier on the other 51 outlets had been rescinded with immediate effect, he said.

NV Subbarow, education officer of the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP), said the ban should have applied to all shops along the procession routes, noting that up to 15 shops sold liquor in George Town’s Little India enclave alone.

He also said CAP had received numerous complaints in the past about people who were drunk dancing in certain places where the chariot processions passed by.

“Therefore, there should be a total ban (for all shops along the routes),” he told FMT.

Subbarow expressed concern that limiting the ban to only five shops near the temple would not meet the city council’s intended purpose, as people could purchase alcohol from other shops not subject to the ban.

He said the sale ban should be applied in Little India as well, as the chariot processions stopped by at a temple there.

The consumer rights activist suggested that the ban should apply to hotels along the procession routes as well.

P Murugiah Mohan, president of the Penang Hindu Association, concurred with Subbarow, saying that there had been several altercations between drunken youngsters and devotees who brushed against them.

These conflicts had been ugly, with the youngsters hurling vulgarities at the devotees, he said.

“They also harass female devotees and families as well,” he added. - FMT