If asked to name the most famous nasi kandar outlet in Penang, many would name Line Clear off Penang Road. I only learned about Line Clear maybe five or six years ago, and it had never featured among my top favourite nasi kandar stall all that while. I think I tried it once, and found myself saying, "So good meh?" So I was pleased to find others who shared the same opinion, that Line Clear Nasi Kandar was clearly overrated. But I was intrigued how it could have survived for decades.
Then, since 2014, the answer to that above question slowly emerged. Apparently, when the Line Clear business passed down the generations, it went to four different cousins who had a verbal agreement to rotate running the stall on an annual basis.
Unfortunately, one of the cousins, Abdul Hamid Seeni Parkir, had refused to vacate the premises when his turn was up, holding on and continuing to operate the business at the alleyway, which eventually forced his three other cousins, T. Abdul Latiff, Sahubarali China Mohd Hanibah and Pathumah Iskandar, to take him to court. The result of the case was that T. Abdul Latiff got to hold the licence for 2015, followed by Sahubarali China Mohd Hanibah in 2016 and Pathumah Iskandar in 2017, with the business reverting to Abdul Hamid Seeni Parkir in 2018.
Abdul Hamid Seenir Parkir was supposed to hand over the stall to his cousin on 31 December, 2014, but he refused to vacate, forcing the then Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) to get involved and issue an ultimatum. As he steadfastly refused to let go of the stall, the MPPP enforcement officers moved in to confiscate his tables and chairs, in a 4:00 am operation on 20 January, 2015. This caused the defiant Abdul Hamid Seeni Parkir to brand the MPPP action as "totally inconsiderate", claiming no prior notice was given. MPPP responded saying that it had to take action as Abdul Hamid had no license for the business, it having been passed by the court to his cousin, who is the legitimate licensed operator.
Despite MPPP intervention, Abdul Hamid held on to the business at Line Clear. And to ensure no further MPPP harassment, he obtained (on perhaps 30 January 2015) a stay of execution from the Penang High Court. A year would pass before, finally, on 21 January, 2016, it was reported that the court had dismissed Abdul Hamid's application for a judicial review to quash a decision of the now Penang Island City Council (MBPP). The court also dismissed Abdul Hamid's application with cost of RM12,000 to be awarded to MBPP, and RM15,000 to be awarded collectively to his three cousins. And with that, Abdul Hamid finally accepted to vacate the alleyway.
With the departure of Abdul Hamid from the Penang Road alleyway, his children start a new restaurant business called LC Restoran at Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur, while the premises off Penang Road goes to the legitimate business operator, Abdul Latiff Thulkarnai, who in thanksgiving held a feast at Line Clear in conjunction with the reopening of the restaurant on 15 February, 2016.
If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.
Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang
Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.
Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.
Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.
Disclaimer
Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.