I don't want to over-dramatise thing – but let me put "it" in a plain easily-understood words. Uneducated monkeys are colonising Sabah, and these wild animals are killing our tourism industry (and, the local economy too!). Metaphorically put, of course.

Two nights ago, I was in Sugarbun (Beach Street) – which supposedly 'the best local fast-food outlet' in KK. Before officially turning into a socialist (read as 'anti-capitalist'), one of my favourite late-night hangouts is Coffee Bean. But since I have become a Muslim communist (two weeks ago), I make an effort to avoid all these filthy-greedy-multinational-capitalist (yes, it's a single adjective!) fast-food franchises: Coffee Bean, McD, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger Kings, et. al.

Why? Because these places are guilty for:

• promoting unhealthy eating habit (i.e. by selling expensive 'zat-less' food)
• manipulating labour (i.e. odd workers are generally paid within the range of RM3–4/hour – which is, in most cases, at least RM2 below the cheapest meal sold in that outlet itself!)
• and, to certain extent, killing the local 'restaurant-related' industry (i.e. these multi-nationals have huge capital, and they make full use of it to dominate the so-called 'open market', mainly through extensive misleading advertisement!)

OK, back to my original point – the uneducated monkeys. So, I was in Sugarbun that night – desperately looking for some divine inspiration, di celah-celah pokok-pokok hijau Sugarbun Street Beach (sambil main internet – because, apparently, this lousy place has a TMNET hotspot). Tapi, Sugarbun punya service memang $UCK$ tahap dewa-dewi – and that brutally murdered my mood. Terus terbantut semangat mau cari sebuah inspirasi kudus!

Orang yang bertugas di kaunter, muka macam cipan baru kena sula. Sudahlah senyum pun tidak pandai, mau ambil order pun lidut ala-ala sang kekura patah kaki. Three counters were available, but only one was actually 'working'. Yang dua ekor lagi, tersengih macam kerang busuk – tengah bergebang-ria dengan kengkawan dia. Terpaksalah kami, para pelanggan malang, beratur di kaunter yang satu itu!

Bila saya tanya, "ada TMNET hotspot ka sini?" Yang kapten waiter/waitress (baju putih itulah!) – geleng-geleng kepala. Muka macam marah pula bila kena tanya. Mungkin dia pun tidak faham apa itu 'hotspot'. It took me several minutes (later) to actually realise that it was available there. Yang Sugarbun ini pun satu. Kalau sudah gegatal sangat mau offer 'hotspot service' – make sure all your workers (esp. the waiter/waitresses) are aware of it.

Kemudian Sugarbun Beach Street juga (kononnya) ada live band. But, it was horrible. The singers were not only physically ugly (sudahlah buncit seperti pengidap cacing kerawit, pakaian pula serabai macam baru balik dari bersawah) – the voices were also painfully unpleasant. Suara begitu, takat berkaraoke sendiri-sendiri dalam bilik rahsia yang tertutup, bolehlah. Tapi untuk standard 'tontonan umum' – memang tak melepasi piawai langsung. I rather listen to some proper non-live musics (cd, vcd, kaset, etc) than having to endure this horrendous live performance. Please-lah, nobody would come to Sugarbun at 11pm (meredah hujan pula tu!) only to get tortured by some D-rated popstar wannabes! Would you?

When you're trying to be patriotic and (making the best effort) to support local outlets – this is what you get in return. Patutlah Sugarbun macam mau bangkrap saja. Dia punya papan-nama pun sudah usang berlumut. Ketara sangat tidak mampu mau ganti. Macam mana mau bersaing dengan multi-national fast-food outlets seperti KFC, Pizza Hut, McD, etc? Pekerja-pekerja kebanyakan macam minah dan mamat perasan. Unfriendly and lazy. Cuba banding dengan Pizza Hut – belum limpas pintu masuk, pekerja-pekerja dia sudah senyum berbunga-bunga. Tiap kali kita mau panggil untuk tanya apa-apa, diorang akan datang cepat-cepat dengan senyum yang paling manis. Kalau Sugarbun punya staff pula, kita sudah berdiri depan-depan dan sedia mau order makanan pun – muka diorang masih poyo macam monyet liar tengah depressed. These are the faces that will keep the tourists from coming back to KK!

If you're looking for a nice inspiring place – Sugarbun Beach Street is definitely not the place. However, if you do come (in the name of patriotism – support local business bah!), please lower down your expectation. Although the food there is as expensive as other sophisticated fast-food outlets (i.e. KFC, Pizza Hut, etc) – the service is no better (if not worse!) than kedai mamak tepi jalan. If I was not patriotic and haven't, yet, self-converted myself into a Muslim Communist – I would probably never step my two feet into Sugarbun.