KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said today that his statement telling restaurant operators to employ only local cooks starting next year was merely a suggestion.

Kulasegaran told The Star that the government’s proposed ban on foreign cooks only applied to “ordinary local food” outlets, not to restaurants serving foreign food, high-end restaurants, or five-star hotels that required specialised cooks. 

"We will engage with the various stakeholders before the final process,” Kulasegaran was quoted saying.

He pointed out that the Licensing of Hawkers (Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) By-Laws 2016 required all hawkers in the capital city to be Malaysian and prohibit the employment of foreign workers. 

"We just want it to be properly regulated, and have the same laws applied to all states. We want to be consistent,” said Kulasegaran.

The DAP lawmaker said the government proposal was aimed at reducing the number of foreign workers in the country.

“We want to reduce the dependency on foreign workers,” he was quoted saying.

Kulasegaran told national newswire Bernama earlier that his ministry planned to impose regulations effective January 1 2019 for all restaurants throughout the country to only hire locals as cooks.

Hawkers and coffee shop owners have criticised Kulasegaran’s proposal, saying it was near impossible to meet the deadline and claimed that Malaysians were not interested in working in kitchens.

In 2014, the Penang government introduced a new rule that forbid 10 state iconic dishes like char koay teow, Penang laksa, Hokkien mee, nasi kandar and curry mee, sold by street hawkers from being prepared by foreign workers to protect the cultural palate.

https://www.malaymail.com/s/1644824/foreign-cook-ban-only-a-suggestion-minister-says