YOURSAY | ‘There’s no great technical consideration needed for deciding whether to open barber shops or not.’

Putrajaya retracts approval for hairdressers and opticians

Quo Vadis: According to Senior Minister (security cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was the one who had decided that barber shops should be closed.

And 90 percent of the barbers, it is reported, do not want to open their outlets during the movement control order (MCO). It is indeed a momentous, earth-shaking decision in a life-threatening national crisis.

Speaking Sense: If 71 ministers and their deputies still need to consult Muhyiddin about opening barbershops and opticians, how will they ever get this country back on its feet after the Covid-19 pandemic?

This is good as the ‘warm water’ cure for the virus.

Cocomomo: Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, please think thoroughly before announcing any decision.

To be honest, there is no great technical consideration needed for deciding whether to open barber shops or not.

Sphzxcv: Don't these PN ministers ever think first before opening their mouths to implement such regulations? Haven't they even considered the safety and interest of the people?

Oh, I forgot. They never have and never will. For them, it's about remaining in power.

MyMalaysia: Thank you for retracting the approval for hairdressers and opticians to open during MCO. This should not be approved in the first place. The PM was aware it was a cabinet decision but has since decided to overrule it.

The cabinet ministers should not create alarm among the people by announcing such a decision without thorough consideration. This is the social media era. So be smart.

Anonymous_1572525386135.60351572524462006: Any matured person will not make the decision to allow hairdressers and opticians to start operating at this critical period.

Why should the people pay the ministers such high salaries to make a decision that even a primary school pupil knows is wrong?

Anonymous 2465861491622056: This episode is not about the government listening to the people but the stupidity of the cabinet.

The PM says he follows the advice of the Health Ministry. Clearly, that was not done as Health Ministry disagrees with allowing such businesses to operate.

Anonymous_ba958b7b: How can the people trust the minister for international trade and industry (Miti) to prepare for post-Covid-19 days?

After all the sacrifices of the frontline doctors, nurses, cleaners and so many dedicated staff, what is Putrajaya doing? Trying to get votes for GE15?

And don't let the varsity students ‘balik kampung’ until the Health Ministry is consulted. Don't try to get popular with those who are understandably wanting to celebrate Ramadan and Hari Raya with their loved ones.

Take the necessary advice from Health Ministry and don't put pressure on them.

RR: Whilst we can understand that hairdressing saloons are not essential services for the people, we cannot understand why opticians are barred in providing their services during the movement control order (MCO).

Even in normal days, the optician shops have very few customers. The PN government should reconsider its decision.

Foureye Man: The eyecare profession in Singapore, Malaysia and most countries in the world is classified as essential health services, and so we have been running our optical shops since the first day of MCO.

Police, doctors, nurses, bus drivers, taxi drivers, pilots and Grab riders all need eyeglasses and contact lenses to do their work, etc. Without proper eye care, the world will stop functioning.

Well, they screamed and screamed that the government must be a Malay-only government which PN largely is. Surely, they could have done better by appointing the ones with the most calibre amongst them.

Instead, they pandered to those MPs who help to hold on to power. Now they are determined to put these incompetents into every government-linked company (GLC).

Race and religion are the only things these PN politicians can think about. No real policy of consequence is ever going to be issued by them.

The economy will become moribund soon due to us being uncompetitive and world trade slowing down.

These are not the leaders who will be able to lift us out of it. They are like Santa Claus dishing out cash for free for the occasion while forgetting that we have to survive for another 364 days in the year.

Anonymous_dd165856: By the way, laundry shops should not be allowed to open too. It only takes one Covid-19 infected customer to trigger off several clusters.

Opening of laundry shops put the laundry workers at risk. Customers, though not in close direct contact with one another, will also be at great risk.

Though social distancing between customers can be maintained at the laundry shops, but can we rule out the possibility of the disease spreading by indirect contact (through the handling of contaminated unwashed clothes and handling of washed clothes by the infected laundry worker)?

Furthermore, if self-service laundry shops are not allowed to open, more customers might rush to full laundry shops, thereby increasing the risk of infection.

Puzzling: Can someone quickly invent a mechanical device that, with the press of a button, can provide basic haircuts in one minute and sell at an affordable price?

As most of the world is affected by Covid-19, the inventor has a very big market but a limited window of opportunity of perhaps six months for the person to make his or her money.

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