Features
An Unanticipated Encounter At Selayang Wholesale Market by Puk Lim See Tho, PJN6 FRIDAY 15 MAY Alan Lee, co-pioneer of PBCC (the Selayang Pasar Borong Community Center) and a fellow member of DUMC, with whom I had spoken over the phone a week earlier, informed me that the very next day, staff from PBCC would be distributing food to their clients and regular contacts. Instantly, I accepted the invitation to go along and observe the proceedings. PBCC is a ministry that has been serving foreign migrant families for the past 12 years and, among others, offering basic education to migrant workers’ children aged from 4 to 16 years. DUMC has been a major supporter of this ministry all along.
SATURDAY 16 MAY, 9.30AM We arrived and parked opposite PBCC, located on two floors of a row of shop-lots just a five-minute walk away from the wholesale market. From our parking area, just a stone’s throw away, a large group of personnel from the Health Ministry were already assembled. Through a loudspeaker, there were repeated blares asking all residents in the shop-lot floors to exit and assemble along the roadside. It was clear to us all that they intended to conduct wholesale sanitization via fogging. Half an hour later, RELA officers were pounding on the gate of our premise to get us to exit. By then, a large crowd of foreign migrants as well as locals were on the road. Police and RELA enforcement officers were patrolling and giving stern instructions to maintain social distancing. Two fogging officers entered PBCC and surprisingly I was allowed to videotape their operation. The classrooms and office were thoroughly fogged. Outside RELA officers were chatting with Alan Lee and the other PBCC staff. The crowd was very subdued and cooperative. Alan and I got into our car and drove along the stretch of road. It was lined by crowds of foreigners and locals and there were numerous health officers and enforcement personnel to ensure order and efficiency.
