Tan Choon Yong
KUCHING (Sept 4): More than half of the 1,300 or so licensed hawkers and petty traders under Kuching South City Council (MBKS) jurisdiction have received the first tranche of the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 6.0 aid worth RM750, said Tan Choon Yong.
The MBKS Hawkers and Traders Association chairman said that he could only speak on behalf of the licensed hawkers and petty traders in MBKS areas and had no clue about the recent claim by Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong.
“As far as MBKS hawkers are concerned, more than half of them have received the BKSS 6.0 aid through Sarawak Pay. To my knowledge, the payment is made in alphabetical order based on the recipient list.
“For instance, if your name is Ali, then you will get the payment first. I just want to assure all the licensed hawkers, and I stress, licensed ones, will receive the payment, just a matter of time,” he told The Borneo Post today.
He was prompted for a response to Yong’s statement yesterday, claiming that many hawkers had not received the RM750 through Sarawak Pay.
According to Tan, the payment is not made in one go but in stages.
“She (Yong) said many but no figures were provided. If it’s just a few and you call that many, it’s not really fair.
“I have no idea which type of hawkers she was talking about, because there are market hawkers and coffeeshop hawkers. Do bear in mind that only licensed hawkers will get the aid,” he pointed out.
He said the association had not received any complaint from members about not receiving the payment.
He added that the payment is being made in alphabetical order based on the recipient list to avoid missing out on eligible recipients.
“More importantly, those who have previously received the same aid will definitely get it again, just a matter of time.
“Just two weeks ago, hawkers from the Kenyalang Market shared in our WhatsApp chat group that they had received the payment,” he said.
Tan added that the association will not hesitate to help if any licensed hawkers under MBKS were not given the aid through Sarawak Pay.
Yesterday, Yong said many hawkers had complained to her that they had not received the RM750 BKSS 6.0 aid via Sarawak Pay as pledged by the state government.
“The first batch (payment) was supposed to be paid out sometime in July. Two months have passed and many hawkers are still eagerly waiting for it. The snail pace in disbursing the aid by the government is totally unacceptable,” she said.
The Sarawak government announced in May this year that the BKSS 6.0 aid of RM1,500 for eligible hawkers and petty traders would be paid out over two tranches – the first RM750 in July and the remainder in December.