KUALA LUMPUR – Despite a citywide lockdown significantly affecting his business yesterday, 73-year-old Muhd Iqbal of Restoran Mydin in Bangsar here said he does not bear any ill will towards the protesters.
“My business (today) is only 25% of what it usually is,” he told The Vibes yesterday following the #TangkapAzamBaki protest.
The protest saw 400 youths gather at the Bangsar LRT station, calling for the arrest of embattled Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
Attributing the staggering drop of customers to the last-minute closures of Jalan Bangsar and its surrounding roads, he expected losses to occur due to overheads such as rent, staff wages, and utilities.
However, Iqbal answered in the affirmative when asked if the protestors are fighting for freedom.
“In my opinion, it’s a good cause,” he said, relating an anecdote from earlier in the day when a customer praised those gathered for the rally.
“She told me ‘the boys are doing a good job’ and that we should show moral support.”
The Ipoh-born man went on to say that although his business was severely inconvenienced, it only happens once in a while.
“Therefore, we have to amend things and adjust. We can’t just have it our way all the time.”
However, this positive sentiment was not shared by every business owner interviewed by The Vibes.
Just over 1km away in the bustling Jalan Telawi area of Bangsar lies Knowhere Restaurant and Bar run by Kamaraj Ramalingam, 32.
Although his restaurant was not completely cut-off due to road closures, he explained to The Vibes that “business went down by about 30 to 40%. even when you look around Bangsar and it seems normal”.
In venting his frustrations, Kamaraj said he wishes he knew what the protesters wanted to achieve by organising the demonstration.
When asked about the need to speak out against institutional injustice, Kamaraj merely shrugged.
He also expressed concern for those prevented from going to work by road closures, relating how one of his staff had attempted to reach Bangsar from Sentul, but was prevented from doing so by closures and police roadblocks.
“He still hasn’t arrived!” he told us with a laugh.
Over in Petaling Street, traders we spoke to related similar experiences, with one pau seller recalling that some shops could not even open yesterday because their owners were prevented from entering the city.
Chan, 32, whose family has been selling handmade pau and glutinous rice for almost six decades, told The Vibes that he had almost no customers in the morning.
However, when roads were reopened and train services resumed in the late afternoon, “most people couldn’t be bothered to come out”.
A stone’s throw away on Jalan Sultan, 40-year-old Raymond said that things were not as bad for him.
“Most of my customers are construction and office workers from nearby, mostly locals, so we always get business,” he said, adding that on weekends, any business he gets from those visiting the city centre is a bonus.
“For me, I would say about 10%,” he said in reference to how much profit he believes he lost yesterday.
When asked what he thought of the protesters, Raymond said, “In my opinion as a Malaysian, we should do that. The government shouldn’t block us”.
Going on at length to elaborate how corruption has plagued the nation, he also said that foreigners no longer want to do business with Malaysia due to the perception that it is “a corrupt country”.
“Now it’s f****d up, outsiders are laughing at us, our passport used to be very powerful, but now...” Raymond sighed while shaking his head.
Despite the inconvenience that most of the city experienced, Raymond believes “we are a democratic country, so we have our rights”. – The Vibes, January 23, 2022
