Ugik Jalit
Veronica Ubong Agan
MIRI: The re-imposition of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) gives another blow to many micro-small and medium enterprise (micro-SME) operators here, especially those running food and beverage business.
The latest enforcement, which was imposed following the recent spike in positive Covid-19 cases in Sarawak, came when these small-scale traders were struggling to offset the adverse impact from the prolonged MCO period last year.
“For traders like us, among the objectives that we need to achieve during such ‘hibernation’ would be to ensure that we remain in operation, despite all the obstacles.
“We still need to pay our suppliers and the rent, as well as retain and pay our workers – these among our biggest challenges. Sometimes, things get really, really hard,” Ugik Jalit told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
This food trader at Taman Tunku said the period – starting from the MCO in March last year, followed by the CMCO and the Recovery MCO (RMCO), and now back to CMCO – had been really bad for his operation, in that he was forced to let go some of the workers.
“It was a dilemma for me – I wanted to keep my workers but in doing so, it would put tremendous burden on my business.
“It pains me to think about my workers struggling to put food on the table for their families.
“Although there are (government) assistance programmes, we still need to find ways to cover the losses.
“I always pray that this Covid-19 pandemic would be over immediately,” he lamented.
Fellow Taman Tunku food operator Veronica Ubong Agan concurred with Ugik, hoping that there would be more assistance schemes coming for micro-SMEs like them.
“If this situation persists, it would not only affect my operation at Taman Tunku, but also my catering business.”
Veronica said prior to the pandemic, her catering business used to receive ‘a good number of orders’ especially for weddings, bridal showers, birthday parties and church events.
“However, the number of orders dropped drastically after the pandemic was declared and the strict SOP (standard operating procedures) set.
“I’m worried about the situation, and I pray that this pandemic would be over soon.
“At the same time, I also hope that there woukd be another special aid from the government for micro-SMEs like us, like the RM3,000 grant that we received previously,” she said.
Adding on, Veronica also expressed her hope for premises owners to understand and sympathise with what the traders were going through.
“We hope that the owners would not increase rental fees or impose extra charges for late payments.
“The fact is we are all affected by Covid-19.
“Everyone must work together and play their respective roles in combating the spread of this virus. We need to take care of ourselves,” she added.