A plan to shutter (link is external) soup kitchens in the centre of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur is drawing fire. Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the government will stop feeding the homeless within a 2-kilometre radius of the city centre. Non-governmental organisations operating soup kitchens in the area would be subject to fines (link is external).
The focus on soup kitchens comes amid a wider operation (link is external) launched Monday to crack down on homelessness in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
On Thursday, Minister Tengku Adnan said the ban would deter (link is external) homelessness in Kuala Lumpur and discourage the poor from becoming "complacent". Tengku Adnan also said the kitchens were hubs for spreading disease in the city and said (link is external), "The image of the city is bad. If we don't do this, people will not be disciplined."
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http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201407072145-0023906The logic of this escapes me.
