KOTA KINABALU – Forced to close shop twice due to lockdowns and desperate to keep their business afloat, Sabah hairdressing salon operators have turned to Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) to press the government to allow them to open up during the current movement control order (MCO).
SAPP vice president Gee Tien Siong has urged the government to allow the hairdressers to work after meeting reps from the hairdressings salons yesterday.
“About a thousand hairdressing salons in Sabah are affected by this ruling which puts them again in a tight spot,” he said.
“Hairdressers were not allowed to operate from March until June 2020 under the first MCO.
“But that did not last long when MCO 2.0 was implemented, which will be for fourteen days ending this January 26, with the possibilities of extension,” he said in a statement here.
Gee said this after meeting two representatives from the salons, namely Jason Yong and Stella Tay.
He said many hairdressers had to go “underground” and violate the MCO to keep afloat. He added that they were only allowed to operate for about six months in 2020, while the rest of the time they were left with doing nothing due to the stay-at-home order.
Going underground will make it harder for the health authorities to carry out contact-tracing, he said.
He said the hairdressers would adhere to the health SOPs given in accordance to their line of profession. These include using protective gears while attending to their clients.
He added that he will raise the hairdressers’ requests to the State Disaster Management Committee (Covid-19) and hoped that they would be allowed to operate under strict conditions to curb covid infection before the Chinese New Year.
He said these hairdressers expect a huge demand for their services before the festivities. – The Vibes, January 21, 2021
