THE owner of the entertainment outlet will be held responsible for criminal activities such as illegal gambling, drugs and prostitution taking place on the premises, said Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad.

Khalid said currently only those caught for vice were booked while those running the entertainment centres where the activities occurred got off scot-free.

“The person doing it, he gets detained but the night club carries as normal,” Khalid told The Malaysian Insight.

“As a result, (entertainment centres) take a very indifferent attitude towards such problems.”

Khalid said his ministry officials were in discussion with City Council (DBKL) to clearly outline the council’s powers to act against errant entertainment outlets to pressure the owners to take a pro-active stance in preventing illegal activities on their premises.

“They must take responsibility also, because we gave them a licence to provide entertainment, but not of that kind.

On the rule to compel entertainment outlets to close by 1am, Khalid said the ministry was currently in talks with DBKL and will make a decision by January 1.

He repeated that the rule was not a blanket policy, but merely a proposal of the KL mayor.

Khalid said that authorities are now more focused on clamping down on entertainment centres that breached the terms of their licences.

“Our problem is with those outlets which are licensed to open until 1am but carry on until 3am, 4am, 5am…

“And then there are those who are licensed to open until 5am, because they say they have a lot of foreigners going to the nightclub, but when inspected, there were (no foreigners). So obviously the reasons they give is not valid.

“We can’t have people lying to us and we just ignore it.”

Last month, Khalid was reported as saying tighter control over the entertainment outlets’ opening hours was to enhance family time.

“Don’t spend time at the nightclubs, go home and be with your families,” he said. – December 8, 2018.