The ‘Pink Bracelet Lady’ issue which has gone viral on social media lately has raised concerns from businesspersons in Meru Raya.
President of the Perak Meru Raya Entrepreneurs Club (KUBMRP), Nassry Mardee Ismail said that the issue was spread like wildfire in social media, which was unfounded.
“The fact that this woman, who just got back from another country, went out of her house during her mandatory quarantine period became the source of attention and garnered heated debates from netizens,” he told reporters during a media session at Cottage 75 Café in Meru Raya.
“What’s worse, fake news created by the issue involved a restaurant which is far from the food premise that the lady visited,” Nassry lamented. “It has badly affected around 100 business operators around the area and the amount of customers have significantly reduced.”
Pokok Belacan Restaurant and Mydin Mall are a few of the affected business outlets.
Nassry stressed to the public that there is nothing to worry about when visiting Meru Raya.
“Other than relevant authorities, our KUBMRP committee always monitors operators’ adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) based on guidelines set by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Security Council,” he noted.
“We would like to clear the air regarding this situation and hopefully, the public will not easily trust unfounded rumours like such before further investigation,” Nassry posited.
Meanwhile, the manager of Pokok Belacan Restaurant, Mohd Khairul Adnan, 32, bemoaned the sudden drop of business since the spread of additional fake news.
“More than 80 percent of my customers were gone,” he lamented. “I don’t understand why my restaurant became one of the victims of this incident, when the premise visited by this under-quarantine lady is far from where I am.”
Rosli Mansor
