Today (20th July 2021) I decided to have a stroll around Alamanda Shopping Centre to have a look how it has been doing since the lockdown on 1 June 2021.
Aeon Big is one of the biggest tenant here has been closed for the past 2 weeks as some of their workers were tested positive. The hypermarket will be opened again tomorrow. This is where most of the patrons will go to during the lockdown period.
The rest of the area is pretty much deserted even though a few F & B outlets, pharmacy, book store, phone shops and optical shops are allowed to operate. It almost felt like walking inside an abandoned mall.
Over the past few months, it is quite dishearten to find out hotels, restaurants and other type of businesses I know of were forced to close permanently due to the bad policy in handling the pandemic. I am pretty sure they will not make a comeback when we are out of this storm.
I believe this type of lockdown can't go on for a long period of time. The way forward in my opinion is to let the all business owners/operators to operate and they should conduct self-assessment on their operational risk based on the latest data. Based on the self risk assessment findings, necessary steps can be identified to mitigate it (e.g. improve ventilation, air sterilization, barrier, manning of workplace and etc).
It is time to let the business/industry to self regulate themselves during this tough time rather than the government gives the instructions and SOP on how to operate. Every business with their premise are unique in their own way and it is the owner/operator who knows best on how to best deal with the pandemic based on the available data/guidelines without incurring huge losses in their endeavour.
The government roles should be limited to disseminate data, guidelines and useful information to the public so they can make a fully informed decision.
However, to move to that direction, there must be a paradigm shift in our mentality as I am quite aware that we tend to be irresponsible in the name of profit. Unless we change, nothing will change and everyone will suffer eventually.
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