With no signs of reopening, barbers head for uncertain future

 

The MCO has been an unkind cut for barbers in the Klang Valley, who have remained shut since June 1.

PETALING JAYA: Despite remaining closed since the third movement control order came into effect on June 1, Kumaran Gunasegaran has been paying his workers the minimum wage and the rent for his barber shops.

The owner of several outlets in Kuala Lumpur made it a point to look after the welfare of his workers, all of whom were foreigners, ensuring that they had food on the table to pull through this difficult period.

But Kumaran told FMT he had been forced to dip into his personal savings simply to sustain in the past two months. And the past year has been anything but easy.

From operating five outlets previously, he now only owns three barber shops after losing two since the turn of the year. The foreign workers at these outlets, meanwhile, were sent back home.

“It’s not just me, every other barber is also facing this problem. My friends and cousins who are barbers are also experiencing the same problem.

“If this continues for another month, I think I might close down all my outlets,” he said, despondently.

He said he had no other source of income or avenue to make some money in the past two months, adding that he had only known how to run a barbering business all his life.

With monthly rent in the city centre an expensive affair, he was thankful that some landlords gave him some breathing space in allowing him to pay a little later.

But this was insufficient. He hoped that Putrajaya would allow the hairdressing sector to reopen sooner rather than later, pointing out that most of his employees had already been vaccinated.

Kumaran’s plight is just one of many other barbers in states that remained under Phase 1 of the national recovery plan, with Covid-19 cases remaining high in the Klang Valley, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, among others.

Meanwhile, barbers in states like Penang, Sabah, Perak, Kelantan and Terengganu are allowed to operate, despite the surge in infections there.

Akilan Ananda Krishnan of the KL-Selangor Barber Association said about 90% of young local barbers have quit the business as a whole over the past 18 months, citing the lack of job and income safety as a major factor.

And the association’s deputy president empathised with them, pointing out that in the past 18 months, barbers have been forced to shutter for a total of six months.

“That’s a third of the past 18 months,” he told FMT, adding that most newcomers have left the industry due to the lack of resources to cope.

“To be frank, I’m still surviving because I’ve been in the business for over 30 years. I have enough savings. If a newcomer just started their barbering business five years ago, by now they should be closing shop.”

Akilan has also been paying his workers, both foreign and local, the minimum wage, saying he knew it was important to take care of their needs.

He said the government should have taken a different approach with the industry, suggesting that specific outlets only be closed for sanitisation and screenings should Covid-19 cases be detected there.

“That’s better than telling the whole trade to shut. That’s painful,” he said, adding that barbers had spent money to prepare for Covid-19 era haircuts by purchasing rubber gloves, disposable cutting clips and sanitising products, among others. - FMT