KUALA LUMPUR: The Mon Chinese Beef Roti Restaurant management has admitted that they "overlooked" the issue of a staff member wearing a cross necklace, which went viral on social media recently.
The manager of the restaurant, who only wanted to be known as Sofia, 27, confirmed that the individual in question no longer worked at the restaurant after being terminated, and also apologised to those who were offended or felt uncomfortable after watching the viral video.
She said the management promised to be more attentive to avoid overlooking matters that touched on the sensitivities of Muslims in this country.
"I admit it was a mistake on the part of the management for not thoroughly checking the background of our former employee.
"He (the former employee) was terminated by the management before I even found out about the viral video, and I sincerely apologise for that mistake.
"Frankly, I couldn't sleep well thinking about the issue because I was shocked when I found out that the video went viral so quickly," she told Harian Metro.
She said the restaurant was still operating with the help of four staff from China and a local. All of them are Chinese Muslims.
Sofia also said the halal status of the restaurant was the management's priority as the majority of their patrons are Muslims.
"Even before we opened the restaurant here, we have been in contact with our appointed agent to help us with getting the halal certificate from the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).
"However, the process takes a lot of time as there are many documents needed, and I am still new in business but I will try my best (to get the halal certificate)," she added.
She said she did not expect the restaurant to gain that much popularity, as it had only been open for two months.
"There are 52 branches in China and it is so popular that people line up at all the premises there.
"It is the first branch here and it is still very new, but I did not expect it to be this popular. Our ingredients are guaranteed to be halal and they are sourced locally. Thank you to all that have come," she said.
A video went viral on tiktok after a customer showed how many people were willing to line up at the shop in Bukit Bintang to buy the halal Chinese-style beef-filled buns.
However, it became an issue when a songkok-wearing staff member wore a cross necklace around his neck.
This then caused netizens to question if the restaurant was trying to deceive its customers by asking a non-Muslim staff to put on a songkok.