The road along Tengku Kelana, Klang, has always been the centre of attention for the Indian community, every time Deepavali is around the corner.

Deepavali aside, it is always bustling with activity, as Indian small traders also use the road to conduct their businesses.

But this will soon be a thing of the past as these small traders have been instructed to move to a new location, that is, at Jalan Tingkat.

This new location is where other traders find their means to survive by renting the shoplots there.

Problems, therefore, arose when the bazaar tents of the relocated traders thronged the area.

Traders at Jalan Tingkat were angry when the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) allegedly refused to communicate with them to solve the problem.

One of the traders, Samy Nantharajan, 54 ( photo ), said his business is incurring losses as shoppers find it difficult to get to his shop.

“Three bazaar tents were assembled along the road until cars cannot enter or leave. I’ve incurred huge losses because of this,” he told Malaysiakini .

Furious at transfer

Ramesh Muniandy, 42, a trader from Jalan Tengku Kelana, was nothing short of furious with the Selangor state government and the MPK for transferring the bazaar traders “indiscriminately”.

“It all comes down to skin colour, because we are Indians. If they consider us as humans, they (the state government) will not do this.

“Must we appeal 10 times before they let the other traders do their businesses at Jalan Tengku Kelana?” he said angrily.

He added that no Selangor state assemblyperson had visited the area, to see how constricted the conditions were at Jalan Tingkat.

Another trader, who only wanted to be known as Ram, said the Indians in the country were made to be fools of when no one came forward to defend them.

“The Indians are made to be fools of in Malaysia. We only want to do business. We’ve bought the necessary things, our money is spent, but we still can’t do business,” he said.

The Deepavali bazaar traders will start their businesses from today onwards until Nov 9.

They have expressed hope for the Selangor state government to help them as they can only rely on their daily earnings to continue surviving.

The traders said they did not have any intention to politicise the issue and only want to see how far the state representatives would be willing to attend to their plight.

“Just give us a chance to at least do business until Deepavali,” pleaded Ram.