JUNE 9 — Upon the announcement by PM, almost all sectors set to be liberated. So far, the music centre is on the negative list. We may see some light at the end of the tunnel if someone decided to grant us the green light to operate. But sadly to say, there is no specific SOP applied for the music centre. We are not registered with MOE which makes us appear to be independent. In actual fact, we are out of reach including any form of support and assistance from the government.
Before we proceed to reopen, we still need a specific SOP for us to comply. There is confusion whether we should follow the latest guidelines released recently by KPM. If we were to use the guidelines, expected announcement to be made later in stages. But isn't that for government school and priority is given to form 5 and 6 students?
However, there is another claim, a specific SOP to be formulated but till now there's no sign of readiness. We are in limbo. There must be confusion among all and whoever should be the responsible department and ministry preparing the SOP for us. In business, uncertainties halted decision-making process.
We are different due to the mode of operation with one to one class and duration of less than 1 hour per weekly class. Maybe we should tell them the difference between individual short duration class versus group class which can be easily prolonged to few hours in one seating similar to other types of group class/seminar/workshop/conference.
Many high-risk activities already obtained green light to function for the past many weeks. For us, we can easily comply with 3C from MOH, avoid crowded places, confirmed spaces and close conversation. Referring to data from MOH, risk of infection for preschool up to universities is extremely low. The fatality rate for the same group is almost zero. Accept the fact that we will not achieve zero positive cases. The current effort by MOH on implementation of MCO was to flatten the curve and prevent overwhelming of the health facilities in the country. We had achieved that successfully.
Unlike other industries such as barber and salon, they do have a strong association. We do not have any representative to speak out for us. Even there is one association claimed to represent us but looking at their list of businesses under them, I don't think we received a fair share in raising issues to the right channel.
Various initiatives brought up by individuals but unfortunately did not pick up due to lukewarm response. The online petition raised weeks ago was a good platform to raise concern. Our respected media did not pick up much of our voices. We need them to highlight our plights.
So moving forward, operators must know which SOP to follow and obtain the green light from relevant authorities such as MKN, MITI or relevant local authorities. That is another challenges. Who should we seek for the clarification?
For us, we don't have much time now. We have been placed on the barred list for 3 months and yet further delays are much expected. Many of our teachers are suffering from minimum or zero income.
Performing gig for them is dead as well. They are the most vulnerable one and many of them received no assistance at all from the government. Freelance teachers can continue to teach at home. We should have a proper SOP in place first to safeguard all.
Some can claims online teaching can continue to close the gap. But many external factors such as internet connection and requirement of supervision by parent limit its effectiveness. After many months using this method, many disadvantages starting to show the negative effect significantly. To add-on, there are major burden falls on the business owner.
Major expenses such as rental, utility bill, staff salary and maintaining premises, equipment and instruments is a killer. Basically, we are left in the lurch.
Moving forward, it's about time, we all should come together as one. From my understanding, there is a small group of people trying to formulate some kind of action.
We should support any ideas to allow our voice to be heard. For mass media, we truly appreciate your connection and channel in order for our suffering to be heard and highlight to all the decision-maker. We are more than ready to comply with the new norm. Let us continue what we do best immediately.
* Frederick Ong, music centre operator and member of Music Teachers in Malaysia.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
