Kuala Lampur, March 21 -- The recent furore over some Penang kopitiams charging customers RM2 if they don't order drinks is, interestingly enough, not really new.

About two years ago, I was asked by a kopitiam aunty along Jalan Penang to pay 50 sen because I just wanted to eat the Hokkien Mee sold at one of the stalls there.

I confess I was a bit irked at the time but, well, since it was only 50 sen I didn't think much about it; I felt paying that small amount was better than paying RM2-3 for a drink I didn't want.

But the recent news is that kopitiams are charging RM2 - essentially the price of a teh tarik - if you don't order a drink. This price (four times the one I was asked to pay previously) will no doubt piss many people off.

I...