Anjung Gurney hawkers

Would you support those hawkers who ripped off their clientele when times were good but are now suffering when there's no business during the pandemic and the enforcement of the various stages of the Movement Control Order? 

Yesterday, the state assemblyman for Pulau Tikus, Chris Lee,  appealed on his facebook page to "give these hawkers a chance as there are good people here trying to make a living as well." 

But as my old friend, Jim, observed, "A few years ago, as a local I paid RM5 for a piece of pineapple. The foreign worker said his boss’s policy. I stopped going there."

You can visit this particular post here and read all the comments that have been left there. Very revealing comments that expressed what many people in Penang think. What a slap in the face for the Gurney Drive hawkers! 

By the way, are the hawkers in other touristy areas facing the same difficulty? Places like the New Lane hawker centre? Or the Weld Quay food court? The New World Park food court? The Kimberley Street night hawkers? I'm sure if the hawkers are badly affected, all they have to do is learn to reinvent themselves. Bring themselves down from the pedestals that they placed themselves. If they cater more to the local people, their business will return. 

I know for sure that some hawkers in non-touristy areas have reported little difference in their earnings. Some are even experiencing roaring business. At the end of November, for example, I went to the Berapit food court beside their market to buy from this stall. It wasn't not as empty as I thought. The proprietress was enjoying roaring business every day. Even as she opened her stall at 9am that day, there was already a long queue of people placing orders. I had to wait an hour for my order to be fulfilled. Who says the CMCO is bad for the food business? You just need to go to the non-touristy food courts where food can be equally good and prices are more reasonable.