While announcing details of SOPs for the June 1 to 14 lockdown yesterday, senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said existing permission letters issued by the ministry of international trade and industry (Miti) for work-related travel under previous movement control orders (MCOs) would no longer be valid after today, adding that new letters would be issued by the relevant ministries overlooking specific sectors.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh pointed out today that a day before the lockdown, restaurant operators still did not know who to get permission from.
“(Is it) the local council, Miti, or in Kuala Lumpur, the federal territories ministry? Or KPDNHEP (the ministry of domestic trade and consumer affairs)?” she asked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming said that “as expected”, KPDNHEP’s website has crashed.
Commenting on Yeoh’s post, Huen Su San, who manages 10 F&B outlets and two central kitchens, agreed that F&B operators were in a pickle.
“Now all F&B operators don’t know where to go to get approval letters for our staff,” she told FMT.
Renyi Chin, the co-founder of myBurgerLab, said restaurant operators have been going through the websites of “all the possible ministries” to find out where to apply, and “they were jammed up all morning”.
He said KPDNHEP had just announced on social media that businesses could apply through them through a Google Form provided.
“We find it hilarious they’re using Google Form,” he said.
“Someone on the back end will have to go through all these forms, so I don’t think it will be done in the next 24 hours.”
When pointed out that the announcement on KPDNHEP’s social media did not specifically state that F&B operators should apply through the ministry, he said that “based on our understanding, this is the correct ministry”.
On Twitter, @LGroovefunk said attempts to call KPDNHEP have been futile.
“The website still doesn’t have information on how to obtain letters for us mall management to continue operations. How?”
Echoing frustrations about KPDNHEP’s website, another Twitter user asked how could “an entire ministry’s website be down?”
“Businesses are literally waiting to apply. Are we still figuring out how to do MCO after 1+yr?”