| By Rosli Abidin
Yahya
Shopping establishments located
at the Teck Guan Plaza in the capital and its vicinity suffered
more than just loss of business for several hours last Sunday
evening when they were closed to the public for several hours as
a result of a finding of suspicious substance by a staff of the
US Embassy located in the building.
Consumers are now very wary of
entering the building, as it had been the subject of a bomb hoax
a few months ago.
"I supply diamonds to an
establishment located there but I would not spend longer hours
there from now on. The building had experienced evacuation and
closure a couple of times already. Who knows what will happen
next," said a businessman.
The businessman is also
arranging for collections to be done elsewhere. "I have
told the manager to collect delivery elsewhere."
The shops there agreed the
recent evacuation had done more damage than loss of business as
a result of the three-hour closure. "In the long term,
consumers are more wary of the area. We had seen less customers
entering our premises now," a shop owner said yesterday.
Observers meanwhile hoped the
US Embassy could move elsewhere where it could easily implement
security measures according to their standard.
Messages passed at local
websites hoped the embassy could perhaps move to another secure
area where they could easily monitor security.
Observers said anyone with the
intention to damage the credibility of the business
establishments in the building could pick up a phone and say
anything they like. "It needs not be real but the long term
effect of such hoax call can be devastating to business
operators in the building," they said.
|
