PETALING JAYA, June 17 ― Almost all business, religious, education and social activities are now allowed to resume under the Covid-19 recovery movement control order (RMCO).
But live entertainment ― particularly in pubs and bars ― is not one of them, as it has been listed as a possible activity that may cause a crowd to gather, unlike “indoor busking” which is now allowed.
This announcement has left circuit musicians in the pub scene, like Vishnu Shakthi, understandably frustrated as they have been struggling throughout the MCO periods, without any job opportunities or source of income.
Now still unable to earn their bread and butter, with no end in close sight, Vishnu, 47, decided to do something about it.
By raising this issue through his online petition on Change.org in his bid to “bring live entertainment back to Malaysia”.
Pic1: Vishnu has loved playing in front of people for as long as he can remember. ― Picture via Facebook/Born in Malaysia.
“People have been telling me that petitions don’t really work here, but it’s worth a try,” said Vishnu in an interview with Malay Mail.
“We (circuit musicians) have all been doing this for a long time. This is our livelihood, it’s not easy to give it up, not without a fight.”
He added that most circuit musicians and DJs have been left with no income “at all” during the shutdown periods, with many being forced to find other means of acquiring money, including selling off their prized equipment just to make ends meet.
His petition, titled “Live Entertainment to resume in Malaysia”, was published on June 4 and has received over 2,000 signatures.
But Vishnu said that more has to be done, and more people needed to start working together to see a change.
“Ever since the announcement that indoor busking is allowed, there hasn’t been anything. Nobody has been doing anything. We really want to get back in the pubs but nobody has really given us an answer,” said Vishnu.
“So I’m just trying to make some noise to get people to do something about it. If busking can work ― which is still live entertainment ― how does it differ to performing in a pub?”
Vishnu, who has been in the local pub scene for more than two decades, added that he felt the decision to allow busking, but not live entertainment, was “totally unfair” and felt that many have the wrong impression of what circuit musicians actually do.
“I personally don’t believe that you can permit live busking as entertainment, but we pub musicians are just segregated,” he said.
“I don’t think people understand what we do in a bar, in entertainment. They’ve really got a wrong view of the whole thing. There is no difference between busking or playing in a pub, except the alcohol.”
He also said that the alcohol factor should not be an issue, with restaurant businesses in pubs and nightclubs allowed to operate under RMCO guidelines as compared to when it was prohibited during the CMCO.
“Restaurants, cafes, hotels, lounges ― they all follow the same SOPs. Everyone has their temperature scanners and their sanitisers. If there are certain rules set, we can comply with them,” said Vishnu.
“If they say it’s because they don’t want people to sit there for a long time or form crowds, that also doesn’t make sense because what’s the difference if you’re sitting down at a restaurant with live busking?
“I’d be willing to busk in some corner of a random mall. But nobody would come see me. They all tell me that they’d rather just wait for me to come back to the pub.”
On June 7, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that a number of business and social activities will be allowed during RMCO such as barbers, hair salons, visits to museums, indoor busking, recreational fishing and relaxed guidelines for religious prayers and activities.
A number of activities, which include live entertainment, large-scale gathering and sports that involve physical contact are still prohibited.
