Enhanced MCO: Deputy FT minister moots buying supplies from Selayang traders to aid residents
CORONAVIRUS | Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu said basic supplies would be purchased from the KL wholesale market traders affected by the enhanced movement control order (MCO).
"We don't want them to suffer losses so we (the FT Ministry) propose to purchase basic supplies from them so that we can distribute to those living in the area.
CORONAVIRUS | Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu said basic supplies would be purchased from the KL wholesale market traders affected by the enhanced movement control order (MCO).
"We don't want them to suffer losses so we (the FT Ministry) propose to purchase basic supplies from them so that we can distribute to those living in the area.
"Rather than purchasing from elsewhere, it is better that I buy it from them to assist the people living in the surrounding areas. This will be done systematically," he said during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall operations centre today.
He said with the addition of eight housing areas surrounding the market to the enhanced MCO list, the supplies would be distributed to some 16,000 residents in the affected areas.
The affected areas are part of Pusat Bandar Utara, Taman Sri Murni, Taman Batu View and Taman Batu Hampar.
Malaysiakini reported yesterday that eight housing areas surrounding the market have been placed under an enhanced MCO, with barbed wires erected close to the Batu Caves temple roundabout to Sri Murni flats.
Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob subsequently announced the enhanced MCO will be in force until May 3.
Meanwhile, Santhara also explained that the latest order was initially enforced secretly out of concern that a public announcement could lead to the escape of migrants living in the area.
"When the order was enforced in Masjid India, there were many undocumented migrants - including Rohingya refugees - who ran away out of fear of being arrested right after the announcement was made.
"So, learning from the incident, we carried it (the enhanced MCO in Selayang) out in secret as part of efforts to break the chain of infection," Santhara, who is also Segamat MP, said.
On aid distribution, he said Malaysians living in the area will start to receive assistance beginning today.
As for foreigners, he said the ministry is seeking assistance from corporations, as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"We have a different formula for foreigners. We have contacted the UNHCR and they have agreed to meet us.
"As for now, we have received assistance (from several corporations) amounting to RM750,000 for the migrants," he said.
"[...] we are not using the government's funds because that is for our people, but we still place importance on the welfare of migrants because they have been living in our country and we will still assist them," he said.
Malaysiakini reported today that the government has yet to provide food to residents in the area, according to Kuala Lumpur vegetable wholesalers association president, Wong Keng Fatt.
According to Wong, the wholesalers hire more than 5,000 migrant workers at the market and many of them live in shoplots and houses nearby.
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