TTDI near deserted on first day of Covid-19 movement control order

CORONAVIRUS | Normally a bustling Kuala Lumpur township in the early hours of rush hour weekday morning, Taman Tun Dr Ismail today is a near-deserted pale shadow by comparison.

Checks by Malaysiakini revealed more than half of its total parking bays along the roadsides were unoccupied, with rows of shuttered eateries and non-essential retail outlets on its shoplots, and the small number of people walking thru and fro, around 9am.

This is far cry from the usual work-day rush hour, when these parking bays would all have been taken up by vehicles, and large troops of commuters and workers briskly walking along the roadside, by 8.45am. 

The lull in early morning activity at the township centre, however, seemed to not have deterred a small but a hardcore number of TTDI residents, who were seen jogging along the residential roads on the nearby housing areas.

One of these hardcore joggers was a former accountant, 53, who with his 12-year-old son, was seen part brisk walking, part jogging past the entrance of Taman Persekutuan.

The park, usually full of joggers and other health-conscious visitors every morning, was deserted, the front and side entrance were locked shut, with paper signage stating the park’s closure due to the government’s two-week nationwide partial shutdown order to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Only wishing to be known as Suresh, the married father of one expresses confidence that he and his family are safe from being infected by Covid-19.

Gesturing with his right arm in the direction of the nearly empty Jalan Abang Haji Openg, he said he felt safe due to not many people being out and about this morning.

“I heard about Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement (about the nationwide movement control order). 

“As not many people are out here now, hence why I and my son are jogging,” he said with a grin as his son wandered off ahead to resume some light exercise across the road from the closed-off Taman Persekutuan.

When reminded that the government’s movement control order included discouraging people from exercising in parks among others to prevent the risk of infection by Covid-19, he merely smiled and said that he still felt safe thanks to keeping healthy via jogging for so many years.

Echoing the same sentiment is teacher Michael Briscoe, who was seen doing brisk jogging along the side of Jalan Abang Haji Openg near the closed-off park.

Having just completed a brisk 4km run while resting before doing another 5km run, the married expatriate from Canada nonchalantly remarked that he took the opportunity to jog around the residential areas of TTDI when it is nearly empty of the usual large number of joggers and walkers on the first day of the nationwide movement control order.

Running his hands through his sweaty blonde hair, the teacher of an international school in Shah Alam said that he and his wife had already been anticipating the government’s partial shutdown order since a week ago.

“We have been preparing. Since the gym (that he and his wife, both residents at TTDI) were closed, and that there were few people outside (this early morning), we went jogging here. It is alright as we are safe,” the 43-year-old said as his wife was seen jogging off a distance away.

The hardcore joggers’ confidence in the unusual situation that enveloped TTDI seemed to not shared by the business owners and their staff in the actual TTDI township where the shops are located.

At a restaurant which specialised in local Malay cuisine, its staff Mohd Arif Samsuri (photo) was seen sanguine as he and other staff waited for customers.

Due to the partial shutdown order, eateries are not allowed to serve dine-in customers, and instead, they can only do takeaway orders from walk-in customers or food delivery like Grabfood and Food Panda.

Arif, 28, who is from Indonesia, said that the restaurant has not seen many walk-in customers for takeaway orders even though the eatery had been open since 7am.

“They (walk-in customers) just come singly, one by one (over long periods of time). They had already conducted panic-buying since yesterday and the day before, so not many here today.

“Once they are out of food (from the panic-buying spree), then they will start coming back here,” he said as he stood beside the lauk section of the restaurant, with no customer in sight.

Arif, however, commented that if the government wanted to take action to help tackle the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, then they should have instead ordered a full lockdown instead of the partial lockdown that came into force since midnight (12am of March 18).

“This is because a partial lockdown would still see people going out. When they (people) meet each other, there is a higher risk (of contracting Covid-19),” he said.

At a nearby Chinese restaurant, its owner Eng Ah Hang (photo) held a more optimistic outlook over the prevailing situation.

With a stream of customers seen coming and going into the restaurant since early morning, the 50-year-old expressed his understanding with the government’s move to initiate the two-week movement control order to tackle the current pandemic.

“It is a good move by the government as a way to control the spread of the disease (Covid-19). If the government had been slower to act, the situation in this country could have become as bad as that of Italy,” Eng said as his staff were seen cooking and attending to customers in the restaurant.

The restaurant operator, however, admitted that the movement control order had resulted in the number of walk-in customers for takeaway orders this morning only around 60 percent of the usual number of patrons that throng the restaurant into packed full-houses during normal workday mornings.

Eng expressed concern that his restaurant may suffer losses as the days go by into the second week of the movement control order, which was exacerbated by the uncertainty of whether he would still get supplies due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At a nearby pet shop which was closed this morning, its long-time staff expressed greater worry about the possible loss that the business would incur as the movement control order lasts from today until March 31.

Only wishing to be known as Ong, the 66-year-old looked grim as he noted that the pet shop would be fined RM10,000 if it contravened the movement control order by keeping it open during the affected period.

“We have no choice but to keep the pet shop close, as we are worried that if we do keep it open, we risk being fined RM10,000. We have no choice but to abide. What to do,” he said as he looked hard at his handphone.

Remarking that the pet shop had been open for around 20 years, he expressed concern over the future of the enterprise as he looked around the empty premise, with shelves and racks full of cat and dog food products as well as kitty litter and pet toys, among others.

Meanwhile, a white-haired, 68-year-old taxi driver was seen parked at the side of the road at TTDI township, having waited for customers since the early hours of the morning.

With mostly empty parking lots nearby, the taxi driver, who only wished to be known as Chai, was holding a Chinese vernacular newspaper as he gestured with it towards the empty parking lots.

“Where got customer? One single day already can suffer a big loss, if 13 days more, then I do not know,” Chai said with a sardonic grin, adding that he had not had any customer over the past three hours.

Suddenly, his wizened face broke into a smile when a customer approached him for a ride, and Chai excused himself so that he could finally attend to his first customer for the morning.

Checks at the nearby HeroMarket supermarket at TTDI showed a lack of panic buyers, with the queue at the cashiers at a more normal level compared to reports from yesterday of queues that snaked up and down the interior of supermarkets.

The supermarket staff are seen busy restocking the shelves, with only partly empty shelves seen in the fresh produce sections for chicken meat and vegetables. - Mkini