Popular kopitiam chain Oldtown White Coffee said it would look into a recruitment ad for one of its outlets that went viral for its discriminatory tone.
The chain, in reply to comments by angry users on its official Facebook page, offered to clarify with the following statement:
“Thank you for highlighting this matter to us. We understand your frustration but do give us the opportunity to clarify this matter.
The Recruitment Notice was posted by the Franchisee for the new outlet at Austin Heights, Johor Bahru. We are currently in contact with the Franchisee, Mr Somasundaram @ Ramesh A/L Rajendran as the Recruitment Notice was drafted by him.
We would like to clarify that OLDTOWN White Coffee management was not aware of the contents of the said Recruitment Notice.
On behalf of the Franchisee, OLDTOWN White Coffee management would like to sincerely apologise for the unacceptable and offensive content on the Recruitment Notice. As a home grown Malaysian brand, we value everyone equally and it has never been our intention or the intention of the Franchisee to make any individuals feel slighted or offended in any way. We will take immediate and appropriate action internally to ensure that this will not happen again.”
The notice – meant to announce the launch of a new outlet in Taman Mount Austing in Johor – had a list of vacancies for 12 waiters, six cooks and four supervisors.
It specified that Malay and Chinese applicants would be given priority.
Angry netizens slammed the outlet on its Facebook page with comments that include “This is how Old Town celebrate ‘Hari Malaysia’? Only selected races welcomed into your premises?” and ‘Is this for malays and chinese only? Coz u ppl dont want us to work in ur outlets, thats why need to be sure if your food is also not available to us or not, RACISTS!!”
Meanwhile, The Star Online’s Tan Yi Liang and Nelson Benjamin report that news of the recruitment ad reached Johor State Unity and Human Resources Executive chairman R. Vidyanathan who expressed his shock over the ad.
“Why do you place an advertisement preferring Chinese and Malay workers only. Why can’t Indians be waiters or pour coffee?” Vidyanathan told The Star’s JB office.
