GEORGE TOWN, Nov 30 ― The Penang government does not plan to control the sale of alcoholic beverages in convenience stores, state executive councillor Zairil Khir Johari said in the legislative assembly today.

The state infrastructure and transport committee chairman was replying to Penaga assemblyman Yusni Mat Piah from PAS who linked the sale of liquor to drink driving and asked if the state had plans to emulate the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and restrict the sale of alcohol.

“We can see there are accidents caused by drunk driving so I want to know if Penang plans to impose the same control on the sale of alcohol in convenience stores here,” the PAS man asked.

Zairil said there are existing laws in the Road and Transport Act to deal with drink driving and as such, the state government has no plans to impose additional controls on the sale of alcohol.

He also told Yusni that there is no law requiring customers who buy alcohol to record their names, when asked to list the number of people who had bought liquor in the state and the number of collisions due to drink driving.

As for drink driving, Zairil said there has only been one police report lodged this year while there were five in 2020.