Throughout the various lockdowns measures implemented to stem the spread of Covid-19 so far, the food industry was never ordered to shut albeit having to contend with a takeaway only rule.

In April last year, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Prihatin stimulus package had taken into account the woes faced by those in the food industry and invoked the fictitious “Pak Salleh the mi kolok seller” story to demonstrate what sort of benefits were available.

The Prihatin package was...