Bukit Bintang Automated Toilet Review

As part of an initiative to make the city more favourable towards tourists, a series of state-of-the-art automated public toilets were recently introduced at several tourist hot spots around KL city.

These new public toilets came to light not without some controversy. Some people like them, some people think those money can be better spent somewhere else. At RM400,000 a pop, these toilets are even more expensive than the houses most of us live in.
But hey, it’s not like the authorities care anyway. The toilets have been built already and if you don’t like them, you can go shit sit somewhere else.

Our country’s top officials are obviously proud of these toilets. On the toilets’ opening ceremony, even our Deputy Prime Minister came along in his sleek black limo to officiate the opening.
When it comes to opening ceremonies, people always like to perform a symbolic action to mark its opening. Some people cut ribbons, others plant trees or hit gongs.
You gotta wonder, what symbolic action our Deputy Prime Minister did to make the opening of these toilets official? Did he urinate to officiate?

These toilets cost 20 cents to use. In other words, they need at least 2 million people to piss in each of these toilets just to breakeven financially.
There’s a coin slot by door for you to put the money in. These are pretty similar to those soft drink vending machines. Except with vending machines, you put in the coin in and stuff comes out of it – for you.
With these toilets, you put the coin in and stuff comes out of you.

The inside of the public toilets look mighty impressive. Unlike the public toilets we are used to, these ones are extremely clean. They are so clean, they make our hawker food stalls look dirty.
Only in Malaysia can you find places you shit cleaner than the places you eat.

I mean, there’s even an aircond inside the toilet! Finally, someone has acknowledged that chucking a shit is actually pretty tough work.
The most amusing of all, must be the warning signboard inside the RM400,000 toilet.

There’s this symbol that says “No Diving Allowed.”

Then there’s the standard “No Eating and Drinking Allowed”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure about the kinda food they serve in public toilets. Chocolate cakes, anyone?
But one thing that caught my attention though, was this warning.

Heh.
The last thing you wanna happen when you’re happily taking a dump, is for the door to automatically open and have the busy crowd at Bukit Bintang catch an eyeful of you.
Doing this.

That’d be kinda awkward.


Shoutout to hitz.fm‘s JJ and Rudy for giving kennysia.com a mention on air. You guys rock!

152 Replies to “Bukit Bintang Automated Toilet Review”

  1. it’s shitly expensive~~!!!
    can buy like 2 cheap houses with that…
    and if with only 2 million ppl shitting inside baru can earn back the cost, what about the cost of maintaining while waiting for 2 million people to come pee??
    anyway, if it is always clean always functioning, i can bare with it la…

  2. I wonder if you guys got orgasm of being the first, second or third.. Plain no life weirdo doing this.. Pls post a better comment rather rushing to be the first/second/third.. guess you guys are always the loser in whatever you do besides getting 1st here. Still loser

  3. OMG…toilet door open automatically ? This reminds me of toilet prank by crazy japanese @ [http://www.thejapanesearecrazy.com] where u end up naked in the middle of roadside or maybe by seaside….haha 😛

  4. lol, u look kinda cute, but kenny, not say i want to say u, u look like u put on a bit of weight? or is it ur hair? =.-

  5. stupid toilet……. use this money to help some1 who r poor better k……i think the cost is around 100k ni kua… proud of a toilet.. ? for spending 400k..hahaha

  6. hi w relation to the sign, i think it means that u shouldnt squat on the seats 🙂 unless that was a joke that i didnt get xP heh

  7. i thought it’s RM1 per entry? I wanted to try the toilet, but it’s always closed…..
    and if it’s automated, why is there a lady sitting outside?

  8. Woo..something new..thanks kenny for updating on the latest stuff in KL..been few months since i was in kl..miss kl dearly~~~anyway, won’t really try out this toilet if i go kl..seems dangerous, door automatically open wor..rather go lot 10 pay 30sen cheap cheap bah..

  9. I thk it’s Rm1 per entry. Therefore, it only needs 400K ppl to “participate”. 🙂
    I still wonder what we have to do if we wanna extend the “visiting” period though. ^^

  10. i’ve been to bkt bintang almost every week but never try out the toilet before…the one minute warning is more likely like japanese toilet prunk~!

  11. There’s a maximum usage time of 15 mins. I think the one minute of buzzer warning means that on the 15th min it will start buzzing and that on the 16th min the door opens. But still… Pretty stupid la… what if u’re having constipation?

  12. stop taking pics of urself in “funny” situations to make ur entries funnier. its lame
    by poop
    agreed 🙂

  13. hrm… 27th
    20 cents is on par on those toilets in the mall, but with such environment I rather stay in it, but what if you really have a big business to do but not enough time???

  14. I personally think 15 minutes is enough for one to spend in a public toilet. These public toilets are the same as what we get here in Australia, except that ours are free, and doors open in 10 minutes if I’m not wrong. Oppsss… and there are no air-conditioning here.

  15. god aren’t we abit behind the times, these kind of toilets have been introduce llike 15 years ago in new zealand to say the least, RM$400,000 each is a bloody rip off, bloody govt should spend it where its needed rather then some impressive loo

  16. I’m sure the max 15 min usage is to prevent or at least cut short any -ve impact it can happen inside….who knows, some couple might wanna have some ‘outdoor fun’. 20 cents only..so cheap..somemore got air con….and once in a life time ler, outdoor u know..haha
    i’m sure that’s 1 of the reason

  17. How often will they be cleaned? I’d think that after just a few customers they’d be a little grungy… or are Malaysians much cleaner than Americans?

  18. I saw the pictures of the opening ceremony for this pricey investment, not the best word to use, i know. I am at Melbourne now, and we have those toilets around the city area, but we don’t see John Howard celebrating the opening. in fact, we don’t even know when they first started using this fancy toilet here. I was shocked to know that there is a time limit in using the toilet too when my friend told me about it, but it makes sense as 1. they don’t want people to stay in there forever to enjoy the air con maybe 2. they don’t want people doing drugs inside. Funny you should mention the location of the toilet, because here, the toilet is at either side of the road.

  19. The toilet doors open after one minute which is telling the public that we’re not allowed to do any other “businesses” there so it’s basically just for peeing purposes!
    Maybe that’s one of their ways to keep the door clean and “sophisticated”.

  20. MaKiNo, if got constipation, then no need to use at all la… 🙂
    yeah, i won’t be surprised if horny couples resort to this now instead of by-the-hour hotels…
    never used one before… so just curious… it costs rm0.20 but i see the picture indicating machine accepts rm0.50… means u get 37.5mins for rm0.50 or you get back change?

  21. The cost for the automated toilet is reported in newspaper was RM1.00. Why kenny paid 20cents only? That’s much cheaper than Lot10 toilets…

  22. i wonder how long it can remain so nice and clean. malaysians do have their very own way of dirtying every single public toilet. the last thing you want is an air-conditioned smelly toilet. a RM400k air-conditioned smelly toilet ;p

  23. more like 15 min time limit for those who find doing it in public loos an aphrodisiac.
    orgasm/come in 14 mins anyone??

  24. actually the time limit is to discourage people to make love in the toilet
    imagine you Fcuk half way and the door opens

  25. lol….saw those when i was in kl for leehom’s concert too, kenny….and my fren did tell me it was set to open its doors at a 15 minute limit.
    we were wondering wat would a poor guy do if he had constipation and 15 minutes wasnt enuff for him.

  26. wat a shame to be Malaysian….. i mean, wats in their mind wasting RM400,000.00 for this!!!! blind ass!

  27. I think that’s not a “No Diving Sign”, more like “No Squatting on Toilet Seat” sign 😛
    I remember being told to do that if you use public toilet heheheheh

  28. It’s bad enough to have ppl catching you doing that, what happens if they catch you doing that and filming yourself doing that?

  29. Hem.. another toilet camwhoring post.lol. Anyway, its good that you point out such investment of RM400K is waisted in this kinda of “favorable towards tourism”. There goes our Malaysia Boleh! nothing is impossible, even for a 400K of little john.

  30. they’re actually public toilets exactly like that in australia! some suburb in melbourne if i remember correctly. probably the government is trying to be ‘advanced’ in the shitting matter =P

  31. This is how our government screws the tax payers’ hard earned money. How on earth these toilets can cost RM400K a pop? RM40k is more than enough!

  32. Haha, u very funny la kenny. It is expenisve, but at least malaysia done something good… i mean something to improve malaysia…

  33. I came across your blog when I were checking thru Malaysia most influencing blogger. I saw you challenging Penangnite about good food. Wanted to write but forget to do so due to my busy schedule. Actually, different places have got different good food. I had tried the Sarawak Laksa too (Barratt brand). To me it’s ok but to some people they feel it is like curry mee lor. I had even tried the pepper sweet. Anyway, different state and different part of the whole have got their own good food. It’s just a matter of whether you find the good stall and outlet. Ayone too you for laksa in a fishing village in Balik Pulau Penang?
    Back to your article on the toilet. Wah after 15 mins sendiri automatik buka balik. What if the ladies tengah tukar pad leh. Aiyoh yoh……….. malu loh.

  34. Erina Law – 15 mins to change a pad??!! Get real ok…
    Why do you need that long to change? Pump out the blood at the same time? Duh!

  35. Hell yeah, I love diving in the toilets! But I dive the other way round la; I dive INTO the bowl.
    Gotta try my diving skills in this RM400K toilet soon.
    BTW, it is unisex huh? Toilet paper provided?

  36. RM400,000 for toilet is utterly ridiculous… Please tell me that there’s only ONE… Blardee hell, that money can probably cover my uni and living expenses until PhD!!!

  37. I think the government, Datuk, whoever that come up with this idea is trying to promote this country’s internal image; however, i feel education is first piority in teaching people how to be clean & be considerate to their surroundings. One can see rubbish on the road sides every other meter, let alone the clogged drains & constant smell from drains caused by inconsiderate hawkers and dwellers throwing used water and food dispose. Just last Saturday, somebody wrote in The Star that Malaysians should learn to re-cycle. I say, learn how to dispose of waste first!

  38. For above comment in the second line i meant ‘international image’ and not ‘internal image’. Sorry typo mistake.

  39. i jus came back from cardiff and over there they charge 20 pence for using a toilet like tat and u get 15mins too

  40. hey kenny…
    ur came back from perth rite?
    theres one toilet like dat in front of MONKEY BAR at Northbridge… and they had it years back… LOL

  41. Just launched? Oo..im so outdated..when i go back to KL, must go try, but risky also..what if our chocolates cant get out in time and when it does, half way adi, buzz and door opens..yikes..scary..
    I always believe toilets are a place where you have your own sweet time, it is where you can actually rest your mind and body where nobody can disturb you or invade your privacy..Relax..but this toilet does the opposite with that 15 minutes thingy..ish..
    Cheers.
    J

  42. haha..i remember the first time i saw the toilet..it was a typical traffic jam day when my bro just couldn’t hold it..that’s when we saw the toilet..he just got out of the car and went to that toilet…haha..when he put the coin and the door opens automatically, the first thing dat came out of his mouth was..’gempaq betul!!’ hahahaha…
    it was definetely one of a kind toilet..

  43. what happen for people that have piles,its not easy to shit,at least take 30 minutes to finish the job.put 2X50cents coin can get 30 minutes ah.

  44. Hmm… I thought I heard about these toilets before – are these the ones which automatically cleans themselves? Or did my brain just make up a newspaper article?

  45. What the… Price of toll and stuff all naik, everything naik. And they build this shit?
    Well, ok also la i guess this toilet idea.. But damn, RM400,000 ? are u sure dude?

  46. U need to do a quickie…
    Don’t need a room..
    Just rent this place.. air-conditioned.. nice seating.. can clean urself also after.. but!!
    comes with no protection..
    from public eyes.. after 15minutes..

  47. We have bathrooms like that around Adelaide’s CDB and it’s FREE!! Used it once…pretty clean..as you would except from public toilets here.

  48. Kenny arr…. so got got caught doing IT arr??
    Let me tell you this that is no toilet it is a 15min quickie brotel…..I mean it has a big sign there that says.
    “Feeling horny on a HOt day?? wanna DO your partner but cant seem to find the place?? come on in you get 15min of action packed luving in an air conditioned area plus cleaning facilities, all for RM0.20, what are you waiting for?? come on in and SHAG it BABY~~~~”
    lolz that is the most rediculous promotion to ever do,how would high tech toilets promote tourism?? lolx……..@@”

  49. Hey… how about emergency? I think our Government the needs to educate people about emergency… what if we stuck in the toilet and the doors are not functioning properly to open? Who is going to save us from the toilet? Well as usual, we know how to promote but never think of consequences… the emergency situation !!!

  50. haha thats hilarious. these malaysians will think of any possible way to make money. of course the government doesnt care about the cost…a friend of theirs will be happily hopping to the bank with a wadful of cash from this incredibly stupid idea. here in new zealand, our viaduct harbour in auckland city has free state of the art toilets…thats free with a capital F…heck..those toilets in malaysia are bound to be vandalized soon enough..and regarding costs of maintenance…well…easier said than done..malaysia never upkeeps anything..just look at times square..bloody carpark looks like its been around for over a hundred years..seriously, the damn malaysian government only seems to want to tax its people to build a whole lot of useless nonsensical bullshit..don’t see how you malaysians stand it..

  51. You look really fat when you’re not sucking in your stomach and puffing out your chest to pose for pictures.

  52. I think 20cents is rather cheap enough…it is the same as those dirty public toilet in wet market… haha! Im currently in Moscow,and the public toilet actually cost RM 1.50 per entry.And sumore not as nice as this…
    i think 15 minutes is more than enough for u to pee or even to “shit”.. unless u are doing something inside…haha!
    and RM400K for this toilet is really too much!i think it is better to built more “normal” toilet (instead of only 1 of this toilet) so that more ppl can use it … and by that time,time limiting system can be eliminated…

  53. with that kind of money, i’m expecting some toilet music. or an ipod dock, u know, 15 mins consider a lil bit long. also, a cup holder would be fine, too.
    what else do we need?

  54. Oh my god, this is funny, this automatic toilet thing. What about us women that have our periods, that’s embarassing and not to mention disgusting if the door opens! I don’t think one minute is going to be enough! What if you have diarrhea? Then there’s that awful smell the next person has to deal with, I feel sorry for them. I hope they at least provide some kind of air freshner in there…lol.

  55. What so special about this toilet? Why not build it with a OSIM type of massage chair cum toilet bowl, LCD TV with Astro Channel, WIFI internet access, Automated Dry Clean Ass, Vending Machine selling Sanitary Pad & Pooping pills, Smoke Alarm and Fire Sprinkle(in case someone try to smoke in there or caught fire) & Surveillance Camera in case someone try to tamper or pass out half way shitting in there.

  56. that’s the stupid thing of the EVER EXPENSIVE toilet. On the opening ceromony, some foreigner visitor thought we had some celebration. end up opening ceremony for toilet. They also terus “diam diam laughing” about us… haih

  57. Dear Mr Kenny Sia,
    I think you got the No Diving sign wrong.
    Actually, I think it’s trying to tell you that you CANNOT STAND on the toilet seat.
    Betul tak???

  58. tis is stupid la…simply spend money…wat if i constipate and send more than 15minutes in the toilet….

  59. u’re from perth right?
    there’s a couple of these in Northbridge. You can see one when you’re walking past the museum, entering into James St. It’s dark brown in colour, and has pretty much the same function….the automatic door opening, 15min time limit, etc etc. There’s also another one nearer to Russel Sq. They’ve been there for years..

  60. we have the same kind of toilets operating in Aus .. though you don’t pay a cent for it 😉 Also, the buzzer sounds after like 5 minutes and you have to get out of it pretty quick. It’s cos authorities felt 15 mins was long enuf for certain ‘activities’ to take place so they felt a 5 minute quickie was pretty much the limit.
    *grin*

  61. lmao..isnt it abit too expensive juz to go do some business? might as well go to d nearby shopping centre toilets which is free and more comfy.

  62. I HOPE THE GOVERNMENT IS READING THIS.WOuldnt the money be better off helping the poor and improving their lifestyles? a toilet? hello?!

  63. let’s say if fixed cost is rm5000 each month(include electric and maintainace)… n the variable cost is rm0.05 the price is rm0.20
    so means… they earn rm0.15 per person
    the breakeven unit is
    rm5000 / rm0.15 = 33333 unit
    means need more then 33333 people ppl go to this toilet oni can start earn $$$…..
    but…
    let’s say if each ppl use 5minit.. 1 hour can let 12ppl use… 1day 24hours oni can let 288 ppl use,.. n 1 month can let 8640ppl use… so… din reach the break even point… rugi d..rugi d….~!
    so the 400k..is never earn bek~ but izzit this toilet worth 400k?

  64. Kenny, if we need more time in the toilet, is there another coin slot inside, so that we can put more coins and tutup balik the door?
    i wonder how the door opens, really open all ah? so freaking scary la…

  65. Loved your writeup on the KL self cleaning toilet. Hilarious! I was there on the day they blocked the street to have official opening ceremony. They started a massive traffic jam in the city that lasted the whole afternoon and late evening because of the official opening of Malaysia’s first self cleaning toilet! How stupid can you get? My 5 min cab ride turn out to a 45 min cab ride and I arrived late for my appointment! Dumb! Dumb dumb! BTW, there is a way to use dat toilet widout paying! LOL we figured it out (typical Malaysians wat!) when we saw it the first time in Sweden last year, and our little group of 5 only paid once to use 5 x. LOL hey, it cost us something like RM5 for a pee each! My husband almost died when I said I needed to pee so he had to try and save when the whole group needed to go! LOL My daughter studying in Switzerland just gave me yr website to read, so I really enjoyed it. Keep it up!

  66. I don’t like diving anyway. I would rather swim under water among the submarines and the depth charges anytime. Just to get my 20 cents worth!

  67. This is still better than the public urinals in Paris which is entirely made of transparent glass and an opaque piece big enough just to cover your genitalia area. Muahahha. The highlight of it all is everybody can see you doing your business; of course minus the view of your high mighty.

  68. Awesome. The last self-timer shot is classic. Did you really poop in there? Amazing how you managed to take so many photos within 15 mins. I was in there taking pics until the buzzer went off.
    Did you wash your hands before handling your cam again? haha!

  69. the toilet just exactly the same concept over here in united kingdom – a self cleaning after every usage. it is good one and at least helping Malaysians to keep the toilet clean. but with the tag price, it is too expensive i think.

  70. first of all, the toilet did not cost rm400,000, it cost a lot lot less thn tht. the ministry is not tht stupid to spend tht much money on just portable toilets…after all they had to save money so that the minstery of tourism could spend rm20million in RENTING the KL eye…yes 20 million just to rent that silly thing. they could have bulild a bigger one for a lot cheaper. next the reason you can only spend 15 minutes is so that no vandalsim will occur..this is malaysia come on u know it as much as i do. lastly about the 20 cents charge on it, why are u complaining? would u rather they charged u more to shit and pee? would u rather pay rm2 for a clean toilet as they charge in klcc. seriously, im no pro goverment or anything but for once i see what they’re doing is good..why condemn them? if u must say something pls comment on the eye of kl. thank you.

  71. The ministry has come out with alot of funny ideas and projects, this is one of the best and i bet still more to come eh?

  72. wat the…..
    20c is too cheap for such a nice toilet,
    i mean they charge 30c at pyramid and that doesn’t even come with tissues!!
    air condition?!
    geez if it was a really hot day and i needed to cool off real fast i would definately slot that 20c for that 15 minutes of air conditioning ahhhh…..
    (wishing malaysia had some fresh air instead of stinking and burning acrid smell which always takes a while getting used to after touching down)
    400k geezus god help our nation in its vicious struggle of stupidity
    haha but the door opening all of a sudden would lead to really funny moments, geez imagine having constipation and a period at the same time, definately not going to be your day,
    they should have a slot inside the toilet if ever someone needed to use the toilet a little bit longer
    (again the struggles we have against stupidity)
    sigh malaysia i love you, but i think you need to do something about the people taking care of you

  73. Haha… 400G’s for toilets?? got internet access?? plasma tv’s in them?? kakaka.. us malaysians must be really dumb if you tell me some of that money didn’t make it all the way to the “toilet”.. keke if you know wat i mean.

  74. actually the cost for these toilets is rm90,000/00 the rest is for cronies, MCA RM10,000
    UMNO rm300,000.00, MIC, PPP, THEY GET TO CLEAN THE TOILET AND sell THE SHITE FOR FERTILISER, THAT is share and share alike

  75. FOR THAT PRICE U CAN BUY 8 LOW COST HOUSES AND RENT THEM OUT AND STILL MAKE MONEY BUT THEESE MOOOORONS ONLY THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY CAN MAKE WHILE THE GOING IS GOOD AND BANK IT OVERSEAS, ITs a feeding frenzy mate

  76. I’ve been on one in Auckland city.. there were 3 of us waiting for turn. The first one to go in took at least 15 mins! So me and my other friend were like, hmmm.. what is taking her so long??!!.. then not realising that it was “automatically” functioned toilet, she came out, giggling and said, geezz.. cool toilet hehehe.. so we took turn and went in did our business and came out with big smile too! Hmmm.. other than putting the 20cent in the slot, “scanning” our hand to get tissue and water, u basically dont have to flush the toilet. it did it by itself right after u got up off the toilet bowl hehehe.. whatever it is about public toilet, cleanliness is very, very important!! congrats Malaysia, for such toilets!!

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