By Gerald Lawson
SIBU, May 16: After gym, hairdressers are next to seek the government’s favour to allow them to operate again after their business was shut down since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced on March 18.
A member of  Malaysian Hairdressers Association (MHA), Steven Yek said like gym, they were also without any income for almost two months now.
“Our business situation is very poor right now, with almost zero income. Hopefully, the government will look into our plight and allow us to reopen as soon as possible before more hair salon business will wind up,” he said today.
Yek said a number of hair salons in Sibu, Bintulu and Kuching had closed their businesses because they could not afford to pay the high monthly rental on their premises rented in commercial buildings, and supermarkets.
“I am lucky as the owner of the premises was considerate enough to give me a 50 per cent deduction for the rental fee. But even with cheaper rental fee, I still find it difficult to cope as I still have to pay for my workers’ salary,” he added.
Yek said if they were to wait after the Conditional Movement Control Order ends on June 9 before they could reopen, Â this would mean they have been without income for almost two and a half months.
“But the problem is that although the CMCO will end on June 9, we are still unsure if we are allowed to continue our business,” Yek added.
He said they could not drag on any longer because the longer they waited, the more financial problems would arise.
Yek believes that many people are waiting for the salon to reopen but at the moment, no one knows when the government will give the green light for their business to resume.
He added that the MHA had issued guidelines to all its members to follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) should the government allowed them to operate again.
“We will follow guidelines such as checking the customers’ body temperature, providing hand sanitizer and ensuring social distancing,” he assured.
Meanwhile, a hairdresser Kong Yuk Ling said in April when the hair salon was initially given the green light to go back to work, many were then worried that it could cause a second wave of Covid-19Â infection because of the nature of their work.
In the end, the government reversed the move and stopped the hair salon from operating.
“Yes, even I disagree with that idea. But things are very different now.There are less positive cases now with Sarawak recording zero new cases five times,” he said.
Moreover, he noted that there are no red zones in Sarawak now so the government should consider to allow them to resume business after June 9.
On Friday, gym operators called on the State Government to allow them to reopen as they had been hard hit by the closure of their gym. – DayakDaily
