.jpg "A fabric store opens for business on Jalan Masjid India amid the conditional movement control order in Kuala Lumpur May 7, 2020. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri")
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KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — The Masjid India Business Association, a group representing brick and mortar retailers around the bustling shopping Masjid India Road here, is opposed to the government’s plan to allow the Ramadan bazaar to open for Hari Raya this year.
MIBA president Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying the Ramadan marketplace is a recipe for disaster, and warned of the potential adverse effects on businesses for the area should another lockdown be imposed should another Covid-19 cluster emerge there.
“We have yet to recover from the pandemic’s devastating impact and cannot afford another shutdown like last year’s enhanced control movement order that lasted three weeks,” he was quoted as saying.
“Even when the order was lifted visitors by and large kept away for months.”
The Jalan Masjid India shopping district, popular with the Klang Valley’s working class, was placed under total lockdown in April last year after a large cluster was found in a densely inhabited residential building occupied mostly by foreign workers.
Businesses saw profits drop by as low as 80 per cent as a result of the shutdown, according to Ameer.
The MIBA president warned that another lockdown would hurt workers the most.
“The authorities must carefully weigh their decision as businesses in the area, though established, cannot afford another lockdown,” he was quoted as saying.
“Thousands of workers depend on the survival of these establishments, which have seen an 80 per cent dip in business from pre-Covid-19 times.”
Earlier this month, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Ramadan and Hari Raya bazaars nationwide will be allowed but subject to strict standard operating procedures.
The announcement received mixed reactions from interest groups and public health experts.
Some hailed the decision as good for businesses while others felt there would be risk of more outbreaks since the bazaars would draw large crowds at a time when the rate of daily Covid-19 cases have yet to stabilise.
Daily positive cases, while markedly reduced from its peak of over 5,000 last month, have stayed above 1,000 in the last few weeks.