70% traders in Petaling Street will rest on Sept 16 for fear of possible riot caused by rally

Nanyang Siang Pau, September 9, 2015

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 8 – Although police has banned the red shirts rally on September 16, majority of the traders in Petaling S
treet, Kuala Lumpur have indicated that they would rather rest on that day for fear of possible riot as some quarters have insisted to carry on with the rally.

The rally will also be held at the areas surrounding the Low Yat Plaza, and businesses situated around the areas have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

Even though Sept 16 is Malaysia Day which is a public holiday, business will be booming on that day, traders are worried about the possibility of unrest and also with the Low Yat Plaza brawl still fresh in their memories, 70% of the traders have decided not to open for business on that day while others are adopting wait-and-see attitude or waiting for the instructions from their guilds.

It is learnt that each of them will suffer loss of several hundred ringgits to few thousand ringgits if they opted to take a rest on that day.

Nanyang Siang Pau reporters visited the local traders and found out that most of them are concerned and worried about the rally on Sept 16 at Jalan Sultan and Bukit Bintang.

Tourists are expected to step back

The vendors interviewed said although police had mentioned that any illegal assembly would be banned, the red shirts were adamant to carry on with the rally, coupled with the Low Yat Plaza incident happened earlier, the traders were worried about their safety.

They said they could feel the pressure especially with the words “blood shedding” appeared on the posters posted by the red shirts, thus they decided to give up the opportunity to make money and rather stay at home.

They believed that the locals or tourists would avoid going to Petaling Street on that day, even if they open for business there would be no customers.

Jalan Sultan is one of the venues for the rally on Sept 16.

Can’t close shop arbitrarily under contract

Lau Yat Plaza traders undecided

Lau Yat Plaza had tightened up its security following the riot earlier, the vendors are adopting the wait-and-see attitude, undecided whether to open for business or to rest on Sept 16.

The vendors interviewed told Nanyang Siang Pau that their employers had not decided whether to open for business as usual on Sept 16.
They said the earlier incident had affected their business, now with the rally scheduled on Sept 16 customers would be deterred to visit the place.

Besides, some traders said they could not close shop arbitrarily as they were bound by the contract, thus there was no decision made among the peers.

Nevertheless, they were satisfied that after the furor at the plaza the security had been tightened, and therefore they believed that the plaza would be able to withstand the coming rally.

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