IPOH: The My Water Closet (MyWC) mobile application introduced by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) as a medium to facilitate the public to locate public toilets nationwide can be downloaded and installed to smartphones from today.
Deputy Minister Senator Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad Baharuddin Shah said users could use the app to obtain the location and information of the toilets based on its star rating, charges, other facilities such as for the disabled, diaper changing room and the likes.
He said in order to develop the app, the ministry and the local authorities (PBT) had collected basic data of 2,620 public toilets owned by the PBT nationwide.
“The data are recorded in a database called the Malaysian Local Authorities Public Toilet Register or DATAM,” he said after officiating at the national-level World Toilet Day 2019 celebration and the launch of the app at Stadium Indera Mulia here yesterday.
Raja Kamarul said he was confident that the app would be widely accepted as it was an innovation that would help and benefit all Malaysians as well as tourists.
“This app is very useful as people are now willing to pay for a clean toilet,” he said.
On the celebration, Raja Kamarul said with the theme ‘Clean Toilet, Healthy Community’, the event was aimed at enhancing public awareness on the importance of toilet care.
“I would also like to call on all parties to continue giving support to the government’s efforts to promote a culture of clean toilets,” he said.
At the event, the deputy minister also presented prizes to winners of the Cleanest Public Toilets Competition 2019 in various categories, including PBT, government office, places of worship, institution of higher learning, shopping centre, restaurant and school.
Raja Kamarul Bahrin further said the installation of smoke detector in PBT-owned public toilets might be among the mechanisms that could be used to curb the habit of smoking in toilet.
However, he said the ministry would carry out a detailed study on the mechanisms.
“It is possible to install a smoke detector because we clearly cannot install a CCTV (closed-circuit television) camera inside the toilet, but we need to study it in terms of the cost and effectiveness,” he said when asked about smokers smoking in the toilet despite the smoking ban being introduced at food premises starting this year.
He said another mechanism would be by enhancing public awareness campaign about not to smoke in public toilets. – Bernama
“We will probably work together with the Ministry of Health in this campaign,” he added. – Bernama
