In busy Melaka, business still in the doldrums
MELAKA: At lunch-time on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon this week, places were set, cutlery and crockery shining, but the seats were empty.There were no customers at the Nyonya restaurant in Melaka Raya town, only an elderly couple dusting and cleaning.
The restaurant used to be perpetually full with customers from noon to night, said the 71-year-old man, who wanted to only be known as Peter.
But those were the days before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lunchtime crowd has disappeared and the dinner clientele seem to be staying away, even though restrictions have been lifted and dining-in is allowed again, for the fully vaccinated. Now the couple close up for the night at 7pm, where they used to stay open until late.
“I don’t know where my customers went. I think some might have died,” said Peter in jest. He has very few to no customers, as evidenced by the lull when FMT visited.
Those who do come would usually opt for takeaways.
The much-awaited reopening of interstate travel has done little to help, with just a slight improvement in the number of customers on weekends.
After operating the business for 26 years now, Peter and his wife of 31 years, who does the cooking, are thinking about selling it off.
But the jovial “Uncle” said it beat life under lockdown, which had forced him to resort to collecting discarded cardboard boxes and tin cans for recycling, just to make a few bucks to sustain himself and his wife.
The couple had even relied on food aid packages to survive.Thankfully, he said, things are a little better on weekends, with the revival of Jonker Walk a big help for Ah Chai.
Having been a rider of the colourful Melaka trishaw for 38 years now, he sees no other way to earn a decent income, adding that “as long as I can still cycle, I will cycle”.
Things are looking up, though, for caricature artist Shahril Anuar who has been plying his trade by the Melaka river near the Stadthuys for 10 years now. He can earn up to RM400 on a good day and nearly double on weekends.
The lockdown turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him, as it forced the 42-year-old to venture into setting up a nasi minyak stall. Now, he runs both businesses with the help of some friends.
“It’s like Covid-19 gave us the spark to start another business, instead of sticking to just one,” he said.
While Shahril seemed less concerned about the elections, as he can fall back on his food business should restrictions be re-enforced, Peter and Ah Chai are holding out hope that it would not lead to another surge of Covid-19 cases or, worse, another lockdown.
Ah Chai said another movement control order would be very hard to deal with, adding that he had already been forced to borrow money from friends during the last lockdown.
“If they announce an MCO again, it will be hard to make a living. If my trishaw breaks down, I’ll have no money to fix it up. If my motorcycle breaks down, it will be even worse,” he said, his smile turning into a frown.
Nur, a tourist from Cheras, also hoped any lockdown could be prevented through stringent SOPs during the polls, since Putrajaya has only just started allowing interstate travel and domestic tourism.
“We don’t want what happened in Sabah to be repeated. The state elections caused a lockdown of the whole of Malaysia eventually,” said the mother of one, who was glad to finally be out and about with her family again.
No comments:
Post a Comment