Human Rights in Malaysia

Above are photos of yarl restaurant's outdoor kitchen. To see what yarl restaurant's crow infested outdoor kitchen looks like and how yarl restaurant's workers prepare food near garbage dumps, please click here. To view videos of yarl restaurant's dirty outdoor kitchen, please click here. To find out how garbage dumps can be turned into outdoor kitchens, please click here. You can click here to read the article "Yarl restaurant's workers do not care about hygiene." To read the report about yarl restaurant's dirty outdoor kitchen which we sent to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, please click here. Yarl restaurant's workers have the habit of pissing into the drain. To view the video of yarl restaurant's worker pissing into the drain, please click here. To view the video of yarl restaurant's workers preparing foods near garbage dumps at 5.40 a.m. in the morning, please click here. IF WHAT YOU CAN SEE OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN CAN BE SO FILTHY, CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IS GOING ON INSIDE THE KITCHEN WHERE YOU CANNOT SEE? (Please take note that yarl restaurant started operation in January 2013 and has been preparing foods at this dirty outdoor kitchen all these while).

Today (27 October 2013) is Sunday and I am supposed to get up a little bit later than usual but I can't. At 5.40 am, I had to jump out of my bed when Yarl restaurant turned on the kitchen hood. I tried to look for a place where I could sleep without being disturbed by the noise in my bedroom but of course there was none. I tried every corner of my bed and bedroom, pushing the bed everywhere but it was all in vain. I worked late last night and although I tried to sleep as early as possible knowing that I couldn't sleep when Yarl restaurant turns on the kitchen hood, I could only sleep at 1 a.m. because there were lots of things to be done yesterday. I have no choice but to press two pillows hard on one ear whilst the other ear is pressed onto the mattress making it impossible for me to move my head when I sleep (The present tense is used here because this happens everyday). But even though I tried to cover my ears with the pillows and mattress, the loud and deafening noise of the kitchen hood could still be heard clearly. After having tortured my ears and neck repeatedly day after day, I am having painful earlobes now and I can't even turn my head to the back because my neck is stiff and painful. And I know that this will go on indefinitely.

The kitchen hood was only turned off at 11.25 p.m. last night (26 October 2013) after one of my neighbours went down to the restaurant to tell the workers to turn it off because it was already long past bedtime hour. However, about 6 hours later, it was turned on again waking up everybody in the neighbourhood. And at 5.40 a.m. on a Sunday morning, the entire neighbourhood is turned into a noisy factory by Yarl restaurant. This happens everyday, making it impossible for those affected by the noise to bear it anymore. In the past, I used to avoid using the blender at such an early hour in the morning because I know that the loud noise from the blender would disturb the neighbours. Yarl restaurant's kitchen hood noise is much, much, much, much more louder than the blender and at 5.40 a.m. in the morning, when there is pindrop silence everywhere in the neighbourhood, Yarl retaurant's kitchen hood noise dominated the entire neighbourhood and is indeed a great nuisance to everyone. This is because the kitchen hood noise is waking everyone up irrespective of who they are failing to take into consideration the fact that many people do not work during the weekends and prefer to wake up later than usual. There are also people who work in shifts and do not have to get up that early in the morning. Since this is what is happening to the yarl restaurant's victims everyday, it not only shows how selfish and irresponsible yarl restaurant's owner is but is also a gross violation of human rights - depriving the Malaysian citizens of the right to sleep and to a peaceful living.

Well, before I proceed any further, I would like to ask my readers these questions? Would any one of you like to be told that you must wake up at a certain hour in the morning (between 5.00 - 6.00 a.m.) irrespective of what time you may sleep the night before every day even during the weekends? Would you mind if you were not allowed to stay in your bedroom from morning until night for 18 hours a day? Remember, you can only go into your bedroom to sleep at night and leave your bedroom as soon as the kitchen hood is turned on! For ten months, since January this year, this is what the "yarl victims" have been suffering. Yarl restaurant which is located at 50, Jalan Padang Belia, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur (the kitchen hood of this restaurant is shown in the picture above) has been emanating loud, continuous and endless noise from early morning till around midnight. Once (31st March 2013) it even started operation at about 5.20 a.m. disturbing the entire neighbourhood making it impossible for the flat dwellers nearby to sleep. And when did Yarl Restaurant close the night before (30th March 2013)? At 12 midnight. Would you mind if you were allowed to sleep for only 5 hours and 20 minutes and on a Sunday too?

The painful truth is Yarl restaurant's victims have no freedom to sleep whenever they want. We do not dare to sleep late, dare not watch midnight movie, dare not go out late at night because we know that Yarl restaurant will wake us up early. Does anyone have the right to order people when to sleep and when to wake up in Malaysia? How would the Malaysians react if our beloved Abang Najib were to tell us to sleep at a certain hour and wake up at a certain hour each day? How would the Malaysians react if Abang Najib were to say that we are only allowed 6 hours of sleep each day? However, it seems that Yarl restaurant is given the authority to tell its victims when to sleep and when to wake up. To impose a rule on its victims telling them when to sleep and when to wake up is a gross violation of human rights. Supposing you have to attend an Indian friend's wedding and return home at about 12.00 p.m. after the wedding, the earliest you could sleep on that day would be around 1.00 a.m. But at 5.40 a.m., after sleeping for 5 hours 40 minutes, Yarl restaurant's kitchen hood noise is already telling you it's time to wake up. How would you feel? What would you do? That was why I started this blog. I just don't know what else I could do to protect my most basic rights.

To make loud deafening noise all the time making it impossible for its victims to go into their bedrooms when Yarl restaurant is operating is a gross violation of human rights. Who has the right to ban anyone from entering their rooms for 18 hours a day? But you really can't enter your bedroom when the kitchen hood is turned on. You will feel that your entire being is vibrating with the sound of the kitchen hood. But it seems that Yarl restaurant has the right to ban its victims from going into their bedrooms through its kitchen hood. To pollute the air with curry and making our clothes soak with curry each time we put them out to dry is a gross violation of human rights. Who has the right to churn out curry particles to pollute the air? Again it seems that Yarl restaurant has this right? The question is who has given Yarl restaurant all these rights? The Malaysian government?

Needless to say, the kitchen hood noise is seriously affecting our health. After a stressful day's work, I only come home to be disturbed by endless, loud and deafening noise. I can't even think properly nowadays. I can't focus on my work because I am tired and don't have enough sleep. I have a house but am homeless. What is even worse is I cannot say anything or do anything about it. I understand now what it means to have a house but is homeless because you cannot live in it as your health and well-being are being threatened. I do not know what the rights of an ordinary citizen in Malaysia are but what happened to the Lynas victims and Bukit Merah victims clearly shows that Malaysia is a country which is seriously lacking in integrity. The fact that the restaurant is still allowed to go on operating despite the noise that it makes (which exceeded the permissible level) convinces me that the rights of an ordinary citizen in Malaysia are not protected. If you were unlucky enough to have some new business operating in your area causing you a lot of inconvenience or even doing harm to your health, the only thing you can do is to buy a new house and move away. If you can't afford a new house, just admit that it's your fate. Just go ahead and enjoy your sufferings! No one will bother.

When Fong Kui Lun's secretary went to see Yarl restaurant's boss on the 17th September 2013, he promised to settle the issue in one month. But after one month, the noise only seems to get louder. Is it because the DAP has no authority to say or do anything and that was why Yarl restaurant's boss totally ignored Fong Kui Lun's secretary? This is what we call Malaysian integrity. Wonder why the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) and Jabatan Alam Sekitar (Department of Environment)are not taking any actions despite our neighbours' repeated complaints? Lack of integrity, I suppose!

I am writing this article not because I like to but because my rights are seriously infringed. I am a very busy person and I actually can't afford to waste my time like this. It's just that I cannot take it anymore. I don't even have the right to sleep or stay in my room. If I want to take an afternoon nap, I have to sleep on the sofa in the living room. If I want to stay in my room, I have to turn on some kind of music to cover up part of the kitchen hood noise or I'll end up with migraine because of the vibrations caused by the kitchen hood. Who is going to pay for my electricity bill? I've been listening to too much music that I am beginning to develop a phobia for music now. Why should I be suffering like this for Yarl restaurant's business? What does our prime minister mean by "people first"? I am not asking him to put me first. I only want to live peacefully in my flat but even this cannot be done. What else can I expect? The kitchen hood noise is causing the whole building to vibrate and as I am typing this article, I can feel that my brain is vibrating too. Because of the noise, I am now suffering from bouts of dizziness and migraine from time to time.

Before Yarl restaurant started operation, we enjoyed a peaceful life but this peace is no more. The whole area is polluted with noise and of course there is always curry in the air. This means that if you put out your clothes to dry in the balcony, your clothes would be soaked with curry and if you wear these clothes, you would smell of curry too. How would you like that? School children are seriously affected too as they can no longer study in their own rooms. They have to stay in the living room with their parents who are watching TV to do their revision in front of the TV. When I was a kid, I used to sit on the balcony to study but this is no longer possible now. If you sit on the balcony to study, it is likely that you will end up deaf. Every morning, there is always a natural alarm clock that makes you jump out of bed when the restaurant turns the kitchen hood on. Just have to pray to God that we won't fall sick because we can't rest in our rooms until around midnight. We can only sleep on the sofa in the living room if we were sick as we can't go into the bedroom during the daytime or we'll end up with migraine due to the kitchen hood noise. I just can't imagine what would happen to my mom if she were still alive now. She died of cancer - just imagine how a cancer patient could cope if she can't even sleep in her bedroom without being disturb continuously by the noise from the kitchen hood? One of my neighbors even lost her tenants because they can't bear the noise. Can't blame them. The noise is unbearable..

I have reported the case to the police (sometime in May) but they are not doing anything about it. I lodged a police report again this morning at 6.20 a.m. at the Brickfields police station which I was told is located in Jalan Klang Lama but instead of checking out what was going on in the restaurant, the police asked me to go down to meet him. I did not meet him, of course and there was no more news from him again. He did not even answer my call. This is what our Malaysian police are like. Why didn't I go downstairs to meet the police? It was still dark at that time and I feared for my safety. Remember who C4ed Altantuya Shaariibuu? The police did. But the three-member Court of Appeal unanimously freed Special Action Unit officers Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of the charge of murdering Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu. Well, we can only blame this on Malaysian integrity!

If the selfish and irresponsible owner of yarl restaurant wants to do his business, he can do so as long as he does not interfere with the health and well-being of others. Why sacrifice others for his business? Restaurant Lee Tong Kee next to it has been operating for years without any noise. Restaurant Vogue opens at 10.00 a.m. and closes at 10.00 p.m. It's kitchen hood is facing the kitchens of the opposite flat and therefore doesn't affect anyone. Why is Yarl restaurant a nuisance in the neighbourhood? The major reason is because its operating hours are too long and therefore its victims have no chance of escape. It if wants to make loud, deafening, continuous, and endless noise, go and find a place where it's not facing anyone's bedroom windows. Why put its kitchen hood right in front of people's bedroom windows and starts making loud, deafening, and continuous noise so early in the morning and late into the night? Why can't yarl restaurant's boss install a kitchen hood that does not produce so much noise and emit so much curry particles into the air? To save costs? And at the expense of others? How selfish of him! A clear example of Malaysian integrity?

It is now 7.00 p.m. and the kitchen hood has been emanating loud and endless noise non-stop since it was turned on at 5.40 a.m. this morning. Business seems to be very good and I won't be surprised if it were to operate round-the-clock in the future. I suppose that Yarl restaurant's boss must be paying lots of income tax! That's probably one of the reasons why he is given the authority to turn the lives of its victim into a terrible nightmare!

It seems obvious that Yarl Restaurant has broken the law. Even if it were a commercial building, Yarl restaurant must still adhere to the guidelines for environmental noise limits and control. According to the The Planning Guidelines for Environmental Noise Limits and Control, Yarl restaurant can only disturb the neighbourhood with 60dBA of noise from its kitchen hood from 7.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. Beyond that, only 50 dBA is allowed. How loud is 60 dBA? According to the Table of Sound Pressure Levels, it is equivalent to conversational speech at 1m. How loud is 50 dBA? It is the noise typical of an average home. What about the noise given out by Yarl restaurant? It sounds more like a diesel truck, 10m away, which according to the table below, is 90 dBA. Why is it that Yarl restaurant allowed to produce so much noise to disturb the neighbourhood by the authorities concerned? Again, it is the lack of integrity.

This article clearly depicts the kinds of "rights" that Malaysian citizens have i.e. when their rights are infringed, they cannot say anything or do anything about it. Just accept their fate. If such an uncivilized thing could be allowed to happen in this country, does it mean that we have no rights at all?

I have written three articles about this issue earlier. They are

• Serious Noise Pollution in Brickfields
• A Letter to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
• A Letter to Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL)

I've also started a Facebook on this issue @ Pencemaran Bunyi di Brickfields

On 22 October 2014 yarl restaurant started making loud and deafening noise at 4.47 a.m. in the morning. For a long time we fought with yarl restaurant's noise pollution program but the noise only gets worse. As Malaysians, we have to suffer in silence! (This article is edited to include the latest information about the sufferings of the noise pollution victims).