Today is the 15th day that 3,200 residents of Menara City One in Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur have been confined to their condominium units under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).
The order was to have been lifted yesterday but has now been extended until April 28.
The residents, 90 per cent of whom are foreigners including Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Myanmars, have been getting by with great difficulty although there has been help in the form of mostly dry food from the government.
Retail assistant Amy Wong, 38, is one of the few locals who remain cooped up in their units with a sense of helplessness and hoping for better days.
“Those under the normal Movement Control Order (MCO) should be thankful as they still get to go out and buy food or do their groceries.
“We, on the other hand, have been confined to the four walls of our units and cannot even go to the nearby supermarket,” said Amy who went to live there temporarily to look after her 63-year-old father when the March 18 MCO was announced.
This is the second time that Amy has had to live apart from Yap Kim Seng, her husband of seven years due to unforeseen circumstances.
The first time was in December last year when she left her matrimonial home in Sri Kembangan and lived in Menara City One for over a month after her mother was warded at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
“My mother (Ho Pet Chen) passed away in December. My husband and I decided that I would temporarily stay with my dad and brother for the MCO period while my husband remained in Sri Kembangan to take care of my in-laws,” said Amy.
Moreover, her employer had told her she would not be able to work during the MCO period, so moving into the family home was the natural thing to do.
“We sailed through the first 10 days just like any other family. My father, Wong Poh Hing, could still open his sundry shop in Chow Kit with my younger brother Kok Hoo.
“I would help with the household chores, including buying essential items from the nearby supermarket, and cooking,” she said.
But things took a turn at 8pm on March 30 when they learnt Menara City One would be placed under EMCO for 14 days beginning the next day.
“It came as a shock. It was at night and the shops were already closed. I was worried as we didn’t have enough food for two weeks.”
The EMCO was imposed because 17 residents had tested positive for Covid-19.
“Most of the 502 units in the two isolated blocks are owned by locals but rented out to foreigners.
“The plus point is the units are larger and not as cramped as those in the nearby Malayan Mansion and Selangor Mansion (which are also under EMCO),” Amy said.
She said with a maximum of eight units on each floor, maintaining physical distancing is not difficult as the units do not face each other.
But the major obstacle for residents is food or rather the lack of it.
“We were not allowed to leave. My aunt who lives in Salak South sent us some fresh produce including chicken, pork, vegetables, fruits, eggs and biscuits that could last a week.
“But she was not allowed to come up to our unit. Instead, she had to leave the items at a nearby taxi stand and the security guards picked up and left the items for us to collect from the lobby.”
As their food supply was running low and the sundry shop at the condominium building were only selling mainly dry items like rice and instant noodles, her aunt made a second trip on April 8 to deliver more food.
“The government did send us food twice. The first was on April 2 and the second on April 11 but it was mainly items like canned sardines, rice, biscuits, tea, condensed milk, sugar, milk and oil.”
Amy said health officers also screened the residents and they were taught how to clean their homes.
“This morning, health officers took the residents’ blood samples. Earlier, they carried out swab tests.
“We were told to dilute one litre of bleach in nine litres of water and clean our homes daily and you have to make a new mix each day,” she said.
Amy said the family spends the first two hours of the day cleaning the house with the diluted bleach water and she cooks lunch and dinner for the family while breakfast is usually just bread.
After two weeks stuck at home, Amy admits she envies those living under the MCO.
“They can still get their comfort food when they do their groceries. I wish I could hop over to the nearby Lulu Supermarket to get my favourite snacks like potato chips and dragon fruit,” Amy said.
She says while she and Kok Hoo, 33, spend most of the time doing household chores, exercising, watching TV or being on their gadgets, it has been tougher for their father.
“He has been running his sundry shop in Chow Kit for the past 45 years and has never been in such a situation. He told us that people were still allowed to leave their homes at designated hours during the curfew following the May 13, 1969 riots.
“He is also not tech-savvy and spends most of his time watching TV. He does some cycling (on the exercise bicycle) and sit-ups but I think he is more worried about the perishable items at his shop.”
Amy said items like onions, potatoes and eggs at the shop would have rotted by now.
Her father received RM1,000 aid from the government but Amy doubts it will help make up for his losses.
“It will be another headache when he is allowed to go back to the shop. But right now he understands there is nothing much he can do but to stay put at home,” she said.
She also said she looks forward to her daily video calls with her husband after being separated for nearly a month.
“My husband is a welder and his boss told him that he will not be getting any salary. He too received RM1,000 government aid but we are worried about what the future holds.”
Amy, who works for a Singaporean company, said she was getting a minimum wage of RM1,200 during this period.
“We are lucky that the government announced a deferment for housing and car loans and this will help ease our burden.
“Food is not cheap. Groceries alone can cost hundreds. I just hope this will end soon and I can be reunited with my husband as I miss him a lot.”
Being forced to stay ‘captive’ has also thought Amy a valuable lesson in that freedom should not be taken for granted.
Yesterday, the Health Ministry said there were 39 Covid-19 cases in Menara City One.
Other areas under EMCO are Selangor Mansion (82 cases) and Malayan Mansion (4) in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur; Simpang Renggam, Johor (201) and Batu 21,22, 23 and 34 in Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat (117).
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, had during his daily briefing this afternoon, announced that the EMCO at Menara City One, Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion, among others, will be extended to April 28. He said the EMCO in Batu 21, 22 and 23 ended yesterday with the exception of Maahad Tahfiz An-Nabawiyyah and a house in Batu 23.
