Roadside Maggi Seller At Queensbay Laments "Ambush" - "Not Like We're Selling Drugs"

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Street food is all the rage in Malaysia, that is until it becomes a nuisance for road users.

A food and drinks vendor who opened their stall by the side of a busy road in front of the Queens Waterfront Q1 Commercial building in Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang, was shut down by authorities over the weekend, who towed their car as well.

The vendor, Aleeya Diana, uploaded a video on her TikTok account showing the road with traffic building up as some drivers stopped to buy from her stall and other stalls along the street.

A second part of the video showed local authorities on the scene towing cars and shutting the stalls down.

“We sell food, not drugs that we had to be ambushed like this”, said the caption in the video.

Netizens slammed the vendor in the comments section for complaining about having to shut their stall down, saying that the road is not a suitable spot for street food stalls. Some even questioned whether she had a permit to open a stall there.

There’s little surprise as to why the local authorities in Penang were quick to shut the stalls down, as the island is infamously known for its heavy gridlocks.

In fact, George Town was awarded Malaysia’s Most Congested City 2024, followed by Kota Bharu, Kelantan and Ipoh, Perak.

Among the main causes for the soul-crushing traffic in Penang are things like a maze-like road network, heritage buildings that can’t be demolished, and narrow colonial-era streets, which are infrastructure issues that cannot be fixed overnight.

READ MORE: Penang Crowned “Traffic Nightmare Champion 2024,” Beats KL In Epic Gridlock Battle

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