Seventeen out of 39 stalls located at Tamu Selera Food Court recently faced an abrupt closure, and now the area resembles a ghost town.
Two families I spoke with are now facing severe financial hardship as a result, with one struggling to feed his family of five after being cut off his only source of income; and the other, who had been operating at the food court for 20 years, trying to provide for his eight children while grieving over the recent loss of a child.
If each operator is the breadwinner of the family and has on average eight children, the closure of 17 stalls has essentially sentenced 136 Bruneians to the life of poverty.
I believe that the authorities should consider allowing these vendors to operate again, perhaps after a meeting with them to settle the issues leading to the closure in the first place, so the operators would have a better idea of what is expected of them.
Awang McArthur
