Chinese Association defends reasons for shutdown of business
Edmund Quan
At the time of the shutdown, there were many comments about those addicted to fry chicken and Sunday Lottery having to bring forward plans for Sunday, October first, when most Chinese-owned shops were not open. But a few others commented that with the Chinese-owned shops closed, there were precious Belizean-owned shops left to cater to the general shopping public. Still others claimed that the Chinese, despite their economic power, had taken more from the society that they had given. Chinese Association president Edmund Quan addressed these points with News Five on the sidelines of Sunday’s meeting with the police, stating that the Association gave ample warning and implying that opponents suffered from prejudiced thinking.
Edmund Quan, President, Belize Chinese Association
“What we did with the shutdown, it is for mourning. We have a fallen colleague we close down for business, it was not a protest, we did not do it un-notified, we notified all our customers, all our businesses and the general population that we will be shut down for mourning. And if you are a racist, no matter what you do you will have, you will get lash back but I more than believe the general population of Belize understand and they do know why we closed down and to those that don’t we don’t need to explain.”
Reporter
“That same matter, can you say if you have had any feedback, what kind of impact it had financially on the business; the Chinese community?”
Edmund Quan
“You won’t know if you don’t open and the good part of it is that we notified the general so the people that need to buy on Sunday they know that we are going to close so they buy on Saturday and you know life goes on and we move on. It is not like the previous time when nobody had any knowledge of it, which was a protest. But this one we were just trying to give respect to the deceased and for people to go to his funeral, we want everyone to close down for that day.”
No monetary figure was provided in terms of the voluntary losses for Chinese-owned businesses closed on October first.
