Neither club nor its members broke the law

WE REFER to the StarMetro report titled “DBKL: Bars must close but food outlets can operate”.

The report quoted a Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) spokesperson as saying the closure of the Royal Selangor Club bars at Dataran Merdeka and the Bukit Kiara annexe was “to teach patrons flouting social distancing rules a lesson”.

Let us reiterate that at no time were there occasions when the rules were flouted as claimed by DBKL. This was conveyed in a letter to the Kuala Lumpur mayor in which we described the action of DBKL officers as high-handed.

On May 10, at about 5.45pm, a DBKL team visited the club and went to the Long Bar and Hash Bar which were operational. There were four members inside the Long Bar and another five seated in the terrace area.

All had observed the social distancing rules and at no time were they or the club reprimanded for any breach.

The officers ordered our members to leave the bar and proceeded to seal the bar with security tape. They sealed the Hash Bar as well.

They then went to the Cellar and proceeded to do the same. This bar had not been in operation since the movement control order (MCO) was issued on March 18.

In our letter, we questioned why they sealed the Cellar Bar which was not open in the first place.

StarMetro also reported that DBKL “only advised them to close the bars and areas with entertainment”.

For your information, there has been no entertainment or music in the club since the MCO.

No letter or notice was served for any breach. Despite asking the officers the reasons for the closure, no explanation was forthcoming.

Just before midnight on the same day, three DBKL officers returned to remove all the security tape.

Why this midnight operation if we had indeed breached the law? Was it an attempt to redeem themselves having realised their folly?

The following day, StarMetro’s report quoted a DBKL spokesperson as saying: “We have rules in place. So when you break them, we will take action.”

This gives the impression that our members had defied the law. This is a figment of imagination on the part of DBKL’s officers.

Let us restate that our members had not broken any law and neither would the club condone any breach.

Sylvester Devaraj,

President, THE ROYAL SELANGOR CLUB