Black or White: Old Town Coffee is apolitical
Emily Chow | 10 Jun, 09 4:53pm

No Old Town White Coffee will be closed tomorrow despite the 1BlackMalaysia campaign to drink ‘kopi-o’ (black coffee) at its outlets in a symbolic gesture to mourn the ‘death of democracy’ in Perak.

Confirming this today, Old Town’s marketing department executive Christina Thong told Malaysiakini that the company is a business entity and has nothing to do with politics.

She was responding to the invitations sent via Facebook for Malaysians to don black and sip on black coffee at several Old Town outlets tomorrow night.

Last week, eyebrows were raised when several outlets picked out by the campaign organisers were closed abruptly, leading some to question whether there was political or police pressure.

However, Thong dismissed this.

Contractors’ decision to close

She explained that the outlets – Jaya One, Three Two Square, 3rd Mile Square Old Klang Road, Sunway Mentari and Bangsar South outlets – were shut down due to the decision of the contractors.

“The outlets were closed for internal renovations. Losses were certainly incurred but we don’t mind doing it for upgrading purposes,” she added.

With the advent of these Facebook invitations, Old Town is now becoming associated with these black coffee sessions.

The most recent postings mentioned three more outlets as black coffee spots, which are Kuchai Lama, Aman Puri, Kepong and even Bayan Baru, Penang.

Reiterating that Old Town does not support the campaign, Thong said: “We are a business and are not associated with anything political.”

More than 100 arrested

Meanwhile, the manager of the Old Town outlet in Kuchai Lama, who wished to be known only as Abby, also confirmed that the outlet was closed last week for “internal renovations and software upgrading.”

The 1BlackMalaysia campaign – a spin off from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia tagline – was launched in the wake of Barisan Nasional’s political coup in Perak.

The February coup saw the Pakatan Rakyat state government losing its grip on the reins after 10 months in power following the defection of three of its state representatives.

Following this, there were widespread calls to dissolve the state assembly and hold a fresh elections.

The campaign became prominent following the arrest of academic and activist Wong Chin Huat in May.

Since then, more than 100 people, including opposition politicians, have been arrested and released for wearing black and holding candlelight vigils.

Then the second occasion, knowing that Old Town outlets cannot afford to close for lame reason, they gather again in black.

Black is to mark the BlackMalaysia. Black is because of injustice and darkness has fall across the land. All this was reported in Malaysiakini but NOT is The Star or NST etc.