Shop ordered to close following belly dance incident

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has ordered the immediate closure of a shop here after a video of women in belly dance costume dancing in front of the premises went viral on social media recently.

On its official Facebook page, City Hall said a special operation, carried out by its enforcement team at the outlet on Aug 23, found that it had a composite retail store licence (dry goods only) to conduct supermarket activities.

However, the store in Bukit Bintang here was run by four foreign workers – two Bangladeshis and two Iranians – who did not have valid work permits, it added.

“Therefore, DBKL has issued one compound notice for employing foreign workers without a valid work permit and one compound notice for carrying out activities other than those permitted under the licence,” it said.

DBKL said according to the workers at the premises, the semi-nude dance incident took place in conjunction with the shop’s anniversary celebration, Bernama reported.

Last week, a video clip of a group of scantily-clad women doing a belly dance outside a store went viral on social media, leading to criticisms from the public and the store management apologised over the controversial performance.

The company said its marketing manager, who was tasked with engaging an event company for the store’s anniversary celebrations on Aug 5, had been suspended.

“The manager on-site was not aware of the outfit that would be worn by the dancers.

“Five minutes into the performance, when the management found that the show was not in accordance with the culture and customs of Malaysia, the event was immediately halted,” it said in a statement last Friday.

The company also said it would take full responsibility for the incident and would cooperate with the authorities in their investigations.