KUALA LUMPUR: Some 15,000 night market traders in the federal capital are trying to survive with zero income since the total lockdown was imposed under the Movement Control Order.
Since June 1, the traders are unable to operate, as per instructions of the National Security Council.
The situation is getting worse for some as they are already running out of savings to survive the remaining days of the total lockdown.
They are staring at empty pockets if this regulation continues and if the pandemic gets worse.
Pertubuhan Pengurusan Pasar Malam Kuala Lumpur secretary-general Roy Charles James said they were hard done by the regulation, which disallows any night market trader from setting up stalls by the roadside during the lockdown.
"The requirement for one to obtain this licence is that one must not possess a licence for night market operations.
"So, we are tied to this one-sided regulation. We cannot do anything about it.
"We can only sit around and wait, hoping the government will finally allow night markets to reopen.
"Please listen to our pleas. We are humans, too, and have families to feed," James told the New Straits Times.
He also said that no financial aid was made available for the night market operators during the total lockdown.
The last time they received aid was in March last year, and that was a RM500 one-off payment.
James saw articles of night market traders receiving aid recently in Johor, which left traders here perplexed by the lack of financial support from the government.
He said he contacted an officer at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to ask why they were not getting any aid.
The response only left him frustrated.
"They said the aid in Johor was from the state government, and that City Hall was only a local government entity. This matter should be under the Federal Territories Ministry.
"We hope we can be given a chance to share our plight with the ministry soon," he said.
James suggested that as a temporary measure, the government should give night market traders special permission to open roadside stalls to earn a living.
He said traders continued to abide by all directives, and they would not want to set up stalls until they were given the permission to do so by the local authorities.
"We also hope that the government will consider giving a one-off aid this time around, too, so that even non-essential traders can have some support."
When contacted, a spokesperson for City Hall said the proposal to allow night market traders to operate at roadsides during the full lockdown "would be looked into".
The spokesperson said the matter would be referred to relevant departments before any decision can be made.