IPOH, October 5 — The Canning Garden Hillrise Coffee 16 cafe on Jalan Papan here that was deemed illegal by the Ipoh City Council will remain open for business, its director Vincent Perera said today.

Despite complaints from its neighbours who live along the road about the traffic congestion and haphazard parking blamed on the cafe patrons, Perera said there is "no reason” for him to suspend operations.

"The allegation that the premises is still under residential status is not true as the land has been gazetted for commercial purpose in October last year,” he said in a news conference at the cafe this afternoon.

He said that among the commercial activities allowed under the gazettement was food-and-beverages.

He added that he had twice applied for a licence to operate his cafe from the local authorities and was twice rejected, but has not given up.

"We are currently in the process of applying for the planning approval for the business.

"We haven’t got feedback from the authorities on this. So there is no reason for us to shut down our operation,” he told reporters here.

Perera said his is not the only commercial business on Jalan Papan, pointing to the other houses next to his, which he said had been granted licences to operate by the Ipoh City Council (MBI).

"How is this fair?” he asked.

He claimed that the other houses had been conferred the same status as his shop but were able to get the necessary permits to operate while his application was rejected "for the reason that the land was still under residential status”.

He claimed to have hired two planning consultants to check and both affirmed that the land status had been changed from residential to commercial, which was why he chose to set up the cafe.

He then claimed that he could only get a business licence for the cafe after actually opening one.

"And we can only acquire the business licence from the local authorities when we have set up the business.

"Therefore, we have renovated the house into a cafe. It cost us about RM200,000. But after doing all this, we still can’t obtain the licence, which we think is not fair at all,” he said.

Perera said the recent news reports highlighting the residents’ frustration about their safety due to the increased traffic in the neighbourhood will be bad for his business, but did not elaborate.

Some 10 people, including what looked to be two families, were observed patronising the cafe while the press conference was ongoing.

Perera claimed that the issue surrounding his cafe is being used for political mileage now.

He said that when he was setting up his cafe a year ago, he was helped by Albert Ho from MCA who was an Ipoh city councillor, and that there were no issues then, until Lam Yew Tact from DAP became a city councillor.

He added that he has tried reaching out to Canning assemblyman Jenny Chow and Ipoh Timur MP Howard Lee repeatedly through emails and WhatsApp for help, without success.

"We only met them both during a recent town hall meeting,” Perera said.

He found it "odd” as the town hall meeting was held on the same day as the neighbourhood negotiation period.

Perera was asked if he had tried approaching the residents in the area to discuss their discontent.

He said it was unnecessary to do so since his land was marked for commercial purposes.

"The only people we need to approach are from the government and local authorities to get the necessary approvals for the business and we did all that in a proper order,” he replied.

He also claimed that only a handful of people were against his cafe, and not 400 residents as has been reported in the media.

"During the protest, there were only about nine people. Furthermore, we believe not all the people who oppose are from the same neighbourhood.

"In fact, during the town hall and neighbourhood negotiation meeting, none of the people who attended showed any proof that they are the actual tenants in the area,” he said.

Perera was also asked if he persisted in keeping his business open because he had the backing of "influential” people.

He rejected this perception.

"We don’t have any connections or whatsoever. It’s just me and my wife Sandra Lee,” he said.

He said he and his wife were "business enthusiasts” who opened a small cafe in their hometown so they could help develop Ipoh.

"We own a property company in Kuala Lumpur and this cafe is our secondary business. We have invested a lot in this business and there about seven working staff who rely on us for their income,” he added.