The Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy calls on the government and local authorities to introduce legislation or official licensing mandates requiring all restaurants, eateries, cafés, food courts, mamak shops, fast-food outlets, and licensed food establishments to provide drinking water to customers at no charge.
This is a simple, practical, and low-cost public health measure. Access to free drinking water should not depend on whether a customer is willing or able to buy bottled water, a sweetened drink, or a hot beverage. In a country facing a worsening obesity and non-communicable disease crisis, plain drinking water must be made the easiest, most accessible and most affordable choice.
In Malaysia, the problem is not simply that people are eating too much. They are also drinking too much sugar. The National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2023 found that one in five adults do not drink enough plain water daily, while other national nutrition data show that sugar-sweetened beverages remain deeply embedded in Malaysian diets.
Making free drinking water available in all restaurants and licensed food premises would help shift the default beverage choice away from sweetened drinks and towards water.
When free water is not readily available especially when it is highly priced, customers are nudged towards sugar-sweetened beverages, flavoured drinks, carbonated drinks, milk teas, juices, and other high-calorie options. This is especially concerning for children, adolescents, low-income families, and people who regularly eat outside the home such as shift workers.
More than half of Malaysian adults are now overweight or obese. One in five are living with diabetes. More children are become obese. Obesity increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and liver disease, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, cancer, and premature death. It also increases health care costs for families, employers, insurers, and the public health system.
A requirement for free drinking water would not solve the problem of NCDs. However, it is an important baseline measure. It sends a clear public health signal that water is the default beverage, not an optional extra. It supports Malaysia’s broader efforts to reduce sugar intake, strengthen food environments, and prevent non-communicable diseases.
Other countries have already shown that this is possible. Spain requires bars and restaurants to offer free tap water. In the United Kingdom, licensed premises that serve alcohol must provide free tap water on request where reasonably available.
In parts of Australia, liquor-licensed premises are required to make drinking water available to patrons. In India, consumer protection regulations ensures that customers are not forced to buy bottled water when potable drinking water can be provided.
Malaysia should learn from these examples and adapt them to local conditions. The requirement should apply broadly to food establishments licensed by local authorities. It should be included as a condition for business licensing, and food handling certification. Restaurants such as nasi kandar and mamak shops are already providing drinking water at no cost.
Customers should not have to pay extra just to choose the healthiest drink. Making free drinking water available in restaurants is one of the simplest public health interventions we can implement. It is practical, affordable, and fair. We can do it today. Let’s make the healthy choice the easy choice.
The Galen Centre urges the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, local councils, and state governments to work together to introduce this requirement through legislation, licensing conditions, or food establishment regulations.
Azrul Mohd Khalib is the chief executive of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
