Group tells DAP to stop using hawkers for cheap publicity after party launches fund to help them

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Chang (left) with the association’s treasurer Pung Siok Eng at the press conference.

KUCHING (May 6): A hawkers’ association here has slammed the Democratic Action Party’s RM20,000 fund set up recently to help food and beverage industry operators, as a publicity stunt at their expense.

The Kuching and Kota Samarahan Hawkers Association said the fund created by the party’s Bandar Kuching and Stampin branches only favoured hawkers in certain areas, adding that if the party was sincere it would not have waited until now to help them.

“We the members of the association would like to ask DAP to stop using us poor hawkers as your platform for cheap publicity,” the association’s chairman, Chang Hot Chai, told a press conference at Hui Sing Hawker Centre today.

Last Saturday, DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who is also Stampin MP, and Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said their service centres were offering its own financial assistance package to help food and beverage operators whose business was affected whenever a new Covid-19 cluster is announced.

“Both service centres shall be putting RM10,000 each into a consolidated fund to be managed transparently for this purpose and the money from this fund shall be utilised to assist food and drinks hawkers in the vicinity of an area declared as an official ‘cluster’,” said Chong.

Chang said DAP had decided to kickstart the fund by only opening registration for eligible hawker stall owners at Icom Square, whose businesses have been adversely affected by the recently declared Icom Cluster.

“Will DAP also help other hawkers affected by other clusters such as the Stutong Market cluster, Kampung Sungai Maong cluster and many others as well. DAP’s (stronghold) is also in mostly urban areas so why was there no help given to hawkers in other areas such as in Sibu and Kidurong which is represented by DAP,” he said.

Chang said another reason why the fund is a publicity stunt is because DAP only chose to show concern for hawkers now when Sarawak has been fighting the Covid-19 pandemic for over a year.

“It is clear that what DAP is doing is just election gimmick and DAP is desperate for votes.

“Our advice to our members is take the money but vote with your heart. We all know who has been helping us all this while since the beginning of the pandemic and we should vote them in so that when we are in trouble, we have someone to depend on,” he said.

Chang, nevertheless, said that the association, on behalf of the hawkers who received the assistance, thanked DAP but they were convinced the party only came out when the election was near.

In an immediate response to Chang’s remarks, Dr Yii said DAP had set specific criteria for hawkers to receive help from the fund and they had taken the initiative to help the hawkers at Icom Square as the cluster had just been announced.

“At the beginning we acknowledge it is merely a token and understand it cannot solve the problems faced by all the hawkers, but the main aim is to raise the necessary awareness towards the importance of compliance to the standard operating procedures and the profound effects for any non-compliance,” he said when contacted.

Dr Yii pointed out that what they were doing was actually to compel the state government to provide more comprehensive assistance to hawkers and businesses that are badly affected by the pandemic.

He said that though there was initially help from the state government, it was insufficient and many hawkers and businesses were now struggling to stay afloat.

“While we accept the input and feedback, I regret that this is somehow politicised when all we are trying to do is serve our constituency and more importantly pressure the government of the day to respond to the growing needs right now especially since the recent surge of cases in Sarawak,” Dr Yii said.