By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 1: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) has found no evidence of an alleged RM76 unpaid food bill involving an influencer at the Kuching Festival Food Fair after no stall operators came forward to report such an incident.
MBKS Mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said the council had followed up on the viral claim by reaching out directly to festival vendors to verify whether any of them had experienced a similar situation.
“Last week, everyone was saying ‘the Mayor should investigate’. But how do we investigate? The only way is to ask our stall operators directly whether anyone encountered this RM76 unpaid bill,” Wee said during his ShallWeeTalk live session today.
He said MBKS had asked councillors to relay the request to more than 400 vendors operating at the festival, asking anyone affected by the alleged incident to come forward.
“After two days, until today, nobody has reported such a case. So I regard this as a fictitious thing,” he said.
The issue came after a claim circulated on social media alleging that an influencer had visited a food stall at the Kuching Festival, consumed food amounting to RM76, but allegedly left without settling the bill. Wee had earlier said MBKS would look into the matter and verify the claim with stall operators.
However, Wee stressed that MBKS would still investigate if a genuine complaint was made.
“If there is such a case, we will definitely investigate because this kind of behaviour should not happen,” he said.
He also urged the public not to condemn all influencers because of an unverified claim, saying many content creators had helped promote the Kuching Festival and its vendors.
“I firmly believe our Sarawak influencers have good integrity and would not do such a thing,” he said.
Wee said many influencers attended the festival voluntarily to introduce food stalls and promote the event, while some visitors who could not attend physically relied on their content to learn more about the offerings.
“For those who cannot come because they live far away or do not have the time, at least through these influencers’ introductions, they can understand more about the festival,” he said.
At the same time, Wee reminded influencers to respect festival guidelines, including not placing personal rating stickers on stalls without permission.
He said food preferences were subjective and personal reviews should not be presented as official assessments.
“If you like something, you can introduce it. But you cannot use your own opinion to give others an impression by sticking a sticker on someone’s stall. That is not right,” he said.
Wee explained that official evaluations for festival stalls were carried out by professional panels, including chefs and culinary association representatives, while categories such as best signboard and stall decoration were judged by professionals from relevant fields.
On the sticker issue, he said MBKS would treat it as a warning as some individuals might not have understood the rules.
“Since it has already happened, we give everyone a chance and space to learn,” he said.
Wee also called on the person who made the alleged RM76 claim, if the incident was genuine, to come forward and resolve the matter instead of allowing others to be unfairly blamed.
“If it is true, I hope the person involved will step forward and settle it. Do not let others be blamed unfairly,” he said.
He added that the matter should not overshadow the spirit of Kuching Festival, which was meant to bring people together.
“Since this is a celebration of Kuching Festival, everyone should enjoy themselves happily. Harmony brings prosperity,” Wee said. — DayakDaily
