Walikota feels for ‘deserted’ town

KOTA SAMARAHAN: Kota Samarahan is almost deserted, which is so abnormal.

“I could almost feel tension and some fear in the air after Covid-19 claimed a life in Samarahan. Only at the market did I see people lining up with long faces to buy provisions, with local council enforcement officers directing, advising and guiding them around,” said the Walikota of Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (KSMC) Datuk Peter Minos.

He said as he went on his official daily round in Samarahan, he observed many things from inside his car.

“I saw sad faces of mothers coming out of shops holding only a few food items in plastic bags.

“I saw dejection in the faces of small business owners whose incomes had been slashed.

“I saw the empty streets bereft of life. Policemen and soldiers manning their roadblocks all looked serious and tense,” he said.

In praising those who enforced the movement control order (MCO), Minos said their fidelity to their duties was most admirable.

He observed that Covid-10 had turned lives upside down, the hardest hit being the poor and low income earners and those who lost their small businesses.

“I do not quite know how people stuck at homes have been coping, but I think most are probably doing things that keep their morale and spirits up, and their sanity intact.

“Let us pray to Almighty God for the end of the pandemic. In the meantime, let’s faithfully obey the MCO. We shall overcome. We shall prevail,” he said.