WEDDING planners in Malaysia may go bust if the Government does not address our plight soon, said Persatuan Pengusaha Majlis Perkahwinan Malaysia (PPMPM).
“When the movement control order (MCO) was imposed in March, our revenue dropped by 70% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now, we have very little business. About 60% of our members have closed shop and more will do so if the Government does not help us,” its secretary-general Arabath Ali Arul Alavudeen told FocusM.
PPMPM members primarily conduct Muslim weddings. The association has about 900 members from across Malaysia.
Arabath urged the Government to allow weddings to continue, adding the ceremony should be allowed to have 250 guests, with strict standard operating procedures (SOP) put in place.
He added that his association had met Government officials in June in order to iron out the matter, but with little success.
“We even proposed our own SOP such as limiting table capacity from 10 person to five. We also suggested to place guests at least one metre apart from the other.
“We also proposed sanitising the wedding hall every one hour and establish in-house service to deal with an emergency if it arises,” said Arabath.
The businessman said it was odd that the Government could allow night markets and restaurants to open for businesses but the same permission was not given for weddings.
On a related matter, Arabath urged the Government to provide subsidy for wedding hall rentals as many are suffering economically due to the pandemic.
“We urge the Government to subsidise at least 30% of the hall rental, for the next six months, to allow us to conduct weddings.
“The Government can also provide us with a tax holiday as we badly affected due to the pandemic,” he said.- Nov 18, 2020.
