Foreigners take advantage of holidays

27 January 2012 , By The Star

While many have left the city to celebrate Chinese New Year with friends and family, thousands of foreign workers took the opportunity to throng major towns to sight-see and meet up with friends.

The workers, who were on holidays, comprised those from Nepal, Indonesian, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Nepali Rajindra Ranna, 35, said that this was the first time he actually got to visit Johor Baru as he had just started as a construction worker in Pasir Gudang, several months ago.

“The job is demanding and we hardly have time to do anything else other than work so I was happy to finally have a two day break and explore the city,” he said adding that he was also excited about sending some pictures of Malaysia to his family in Nepal.

Rajindra added that some of the places he planned to visit were Danga Bay, shopping complexes in Johor Baru, the Johor Zoo and also the Istana Garden.

For Bangladeshi, Zahir Hasan, 40, coming out to town and mingling with friends was something that he often did when there was a public holiday.

“Many of my friends from Bangladesh work in different companies here and we usually plan a meeting somewhere in town to talk and socialise about issues relating to our people.

“We usually just hang around the parks in town and speak in our native language,” he said adding that the gatherings helped him from feeling homesick.

Meanwhile, souvenir shop owner, Hussein Marto, 49, said he was used to handling hundreds of foreign customers especially during public holidays.

“Of course, selling souvenirs is not an easy task as many like to haggle extensively and they also sometimes have problems understanding me.

“All in all, it is still good for traders like us, as sales always go up due to the foreign workers,” he said.

Meanwhile in Batu Pahat, thousands of foreigners were seen loitering in shopping complexes and around the bus station during the long holidays.

Many were also busy shopping for clothes, electrical items, DVDs and household goods at several shops run by foreigners along Jalan Soga.