Malaysia lifts curb on market operation

The Malaysian government has pulled off restrictions from the morning and night markets to operate regularly, the directive will activate from June 15.

State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Ayub Jamil said the permission would be implemented in stages at all local authorities to gauge the traders and visitors' level of compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs), reports Malaysian national news agency Bernama.

"The morning and night markets will also be allowed to operate within certain time frames stipulated by the local authorities and traders can only conduct take away transactions and not allowed to open a space that may result in social gathering," he said in a statement today.

Among the SOPs that must be adhered to include the market to take place in a wide area with fences to manage the crowd and the stalls to apply 1.5 metres to 2 metres rules between them while both visitors and traders were required to wear face masks, he said.

Traders are also required to register with registered mobile apps to enable the Ministry of Health to trace close contacts in the event of Covid-19 transmission.

The local authorities could shut down the market immediately if the traders and visitors failed to comply with the SOPs, he said.

Ayub said that before the Movement Control Order (MCO) came into force on March 18, Malaysia had 4,409 morning market traders at 53 locations and a total of 23,184 night market traders at 194 locations.

However, he expected a drop in the number of traders and market locations once the two markets resume operations on June 15.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the implementation of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) from June 10 to Aug 31, to replace the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) which would see more relaxation for the people to carry out their daily activities while complying with the SOPs.