Malaysia offers toilet studies
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia is to introduce college courses in toilet management
as part of a battle against the nation’s notoriously filthy public
restrooms, a report said on Thursday.
Deputy housing and local government minister, Robert Lau, said similar
efforts had yielded clean toilets in Britain and squeakyclean Singapore.
“Cleanliness of toilets also concerns the use of suitable cleaning
tools, soap, deodorant and tissue papers,” he was quoted as saying by the
state Bernama news agency.
Aimed at ensuring high standards in toilet design, cleanliness,
maintenance and sanitation, the courses could be rolled out within two or
three years, Lau said.
Also in the pipeline is an exhibition on toilets and an SMS text service
for Malaysians to complain about grubby restrooms, while authorities will
revoke the licenses of food outlets if their toilets are found to be dirty, he said.
Malaysia has launched a major tourism drive for 2007 and is
acutely conscious of the state of its loos, which have drawn complaints from
locals and tourists alike.
Complaints include a lack of toilet paper and soap, as well as the
habits of users who shun flushing and choose to squat on Western-style
toilet seats, leaving dirty shoe prints behind.
Malaysia last August declared it needed a “toilet revolution”, and
hosted its first-ever toilet expo to revolution public toilets in capital
Kuala Lumpur. AFP
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