KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Most Penang residents prefer for their hawker fare to be dished out by locals rather than foreign workers, according to a recent survey of 12,000 people done by two municipal councils there.

From the survey by the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) and the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), the two dishes that residents most prefer to be prepared by locals are char koay teow and laksa.

“Penangites are calling on the administration to stop migrants from working as cooks,” MPPP secretary Ang Aing Thye told English daily New Straits Times.

“MPPP will be compiling the data from the feedback and MPSP is expected to do the same. The final decision on whether to ban the migrants from working as cooks has to come from the administration.”

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Ang said the councils will complete their data analysis of the month-long polls in two weeks, and will present the findings — broken down by demographics — to the state government.

He also added that preliminary findings show that most residents want the authorities to revoke the trading licences of hawkers who employ foreign cooks.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had on July 13 proposed that the state government ban foreign workers from being main cooks at hawker stalls.

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Stating that the ban was only for hawker stalls and not restaurants, Lim said the move was to protect, preserve and promote the state’s top hawker food.

He added that such a proposal is also consistent with a ruling that states hawker stall licences are only to be given to Malaysian citizens and not foreigners.

Lim had also previously said that Penang would not ban foreigners from being the main cooks at hawker stalls if the feedback to the proposal is negative.