UTCs Will Close By 7pm Beginning 2019 And Najib Isn't Happy About It
The former premier penned his dissatisfaction in a Facebook post last night, 12 December.
By Jia Vern Tham — 13 Dec 2018, 12:24 PM
Urban Transformation Centres (UTCs) across Malaysia will close by 7pm daily beginning 1 January 2019
The Star reported that UTCs will be open from 8am to 7pm beginning next year. Previously, the centres operate up to 10pm.
They will remain closed on state and federal public holidays.
UTCs were a Barisan Nasional government initiative to put various government departments in one place to improve service to Malaysians.
Friday prayers and break time of UTCs vary across states
The break hours are the following:
- Peninsular Malaysia: 12.15pm to 2.45pm,
- Sabah and Labuan: 11.30am to 2pm,
- Sarawak: 11.45am to 2pm.
The new UTC operating hours were not well-received by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak
"We (the previous government) knew many people who were working would not be able to get time off for personal matters at UTCs," Najib wrote in a Facebook post last night, referring to the previous UTC closing time of 10pm.
"Thousands of people visit UTCs daily outside of working hours," he added.
Najib went on to criticise the shortened operating hours of UTCs beginning 2019.
"Very good. From making lives easier for the people, now (you're) making their lives hard for official matters," the former premier wrote.
"Might as well just shut it down," he added.