PETALING JAYA: Stakeholders in the wedding industry have not taken kindly to a minister’s suggestion that they venture into other businesses.
Indian Wedding Planner Malaysia co-founder Kamaruddin Zulkifli said the minister’s suggestion was akin to rubbing salt on a wound.
“Wedding practitioners are not those who just choose this industry because they are SPM leavers or uneducated,” he told theSun.
“Some of us, like myself, have been certified wedding planners for the past seven years, and we have many photographers who have won international recognition and took a lot of courses to excel in their particular field.”
Recently, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said players in the wedding industry, who are affected during Covid-19 due to the strict standard operating procedures, should switch to other areas of business as he said the wedding scene in the country has changed its style to adapt to the new norm.
Kamaruddin pointed out that most of them take this line as a professional full-time job and have invested a lot in the field.
“It is unfair to expect us to switch to another profession,” he said.
“A typical small-scale event company of three years would have assets worth nothing less than half a million.
“If we change industry, we can’t sell or give the assets away as we bought equipment and use it multiple times to provide services to our customers.
“It’s not easy to liquidate and turn it into cash.
“We have no money as capital to start a new business, we didn’t receive anything in the newly announced Budget 2021.
“The only option that we have is to use our savings to pay our expenses. We can’t apply for any loan as there has been no income for the past six months.”
Suhana Samsudin, who runs a public address system business with her husband, said they are comfortable with the idea of venturing into new businesses.
“But financial assistance is needed to cushion the impact and also to start something new,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Wedding Council Entrepreneurs Association said based on data recorded by the association, a total of 150,000 weddings planned during the Covid-19 pandemic nationwide were pushed back since April.
“Only 5% of these weddings or solemnisation ceremonies were conducted online and the rest are still waiting to get married once the situation improves,” said its secretary-general, Arabath Ali Arul Alavudeen.
“This shows that a wedding gathering is a culture of Malaysian society that cannot be eliminated with the development of technology and the pandemic,” he said.
However, he said Wan Juniaidi’s suggestion should be considered as the wedding scene in the country has changed and adapted to the new norm.
“While the association is ready to explore other business ventures , we hope to receive support and assistance such as grants from the government.”
