BUTTERWORTH: The past two weeks have been difficult for K Parimalam who sells flowers and Hindu prayer items at a partitioned shop in Sungai Puyu here.
Under the movement control order, no stalls selling flowers or prayer items are allowed to operate. After an MIC minister told a Tamil news outlet over the weekend that flower shops could operate, the 58-year-old was happy.
Parimalam was told by a fellow trader she could apply for a permit from the agriculture department to operate, just to sell flowers but not prayer items. The wheelchair-bound woman went to the department in Kepala Batas yesterday, only to be told to leave as all applications had to be made online.
Parimalam, who cannot walk because of a knee injury, pleaded with an officer to assist her to fill the online form, as she had all the relevant documents.
“I cried and begged the officer for help. I told him that my husband and I don’t know how to use the computer. He refused and told me to make my application online. I was asked to leave,” she told FMT.
She said her 57-year-old husband, who works as a contractor, is jobless due to the MCO and they have to rely on her flower shop’s meagre income of about RM30 a day to survive. She also works as a dishwasher at a restaurant nearby for RM35 a day.
But Parimalam would most likely not have got a permit, anyway, as she would have to fulfil a lengthy list of requirements. Besides MyKad details, she had to show a land grant (or rental agreement if the premise is leased), a land use permission letter, subsidy book, sales receipts and photos. She was told failure to produce such documents will result in a “strict rejection”.
Strict e-GerakTani requirements
Parimalam’s story is no different from other small-time roadside florists in Penang, numbering more than 100, who used to sell flowers and garlands on pushcarts or pay rent based on a gentleman’s agreement.
The permit she is trying to obtain from the agriculture department under e-GerakTani is meant for those in the “informal” produce and flower businesses operating without a registered company. Traders registered with the Companies Commission (SSM) are required to get their permits from the international trade and industry ministry under the CIMS system.
There was a temporary respite when human resources minister M Saravanan said last weekend that the government had allowed flower shops to operate, but the traders’ joy was short-lived when local enforcement officers and police threatened them with fines.
Several traders told FMT they had never heard of the department’s requirements. They said there was a lack of clear guidelines from the National Security Council (MKN).
One trader in George Town said he was ordered to shutter because he was “not located near a temple”, while others said they preferred to stay shut to avoid being compounded by the enforcement units.
An email from the Penang Island City Council to one of the traders read: “Selling of flowers for prayer purposes is allowed by MKN, but only applicable to kiosks or stalls near temples.”
The trader said such a ruling did not make sense as most temples were closed. “Some of us are located a distance from the temples, how is this going to work?
“On the one hand, we have a minister saying it is okay to open. On the other hand, the city council and police say we can’t. Can the government make a firm decision?”
Wholesale business ‘reduced to nothing’
Nagaraj Arumugam said his flower wholesale business has been “reduced to nothing”. With flower shops and stalls closed, he said, he has nobody to whom he can supply his flowers.
He said he does not mind his losses as the lockdown is meant to curb the spread of Covid-19, but he is concerned about the livelihood of the smallholders. He said most of them earn RM10 to RM30 a day and struggle to put food on the table.
Nagaraj said he lost RM300,000 during the first MCO last year and expects to lose more this time around. This is because “tonnes” of chrysanthemums from five farms he leases at Cameron Highlands cannot be sold.
He said transporting the flowers has been difficult, and transport operators are not keen to send them to Penang, given the roadblocks and the number of approvals required.
Cameron Highlands is under an enhanced MCO from June 14 to 28, but Nagaraj is thankful the agriculture and food industry ministry has given a last-minute approval for produce and flowers to be transported out.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/06/17/to-sell-or-not-to-sell-florists-say-rules-confusing/