SEREMBAN: After almost giving up his business, Shahril Salamon found a lifeline to revive his fresh market operation in Senawang with the ongoing Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) Cheap Sale Programme (PJMKM).
The 36-year-old trader said PJMKM not only helps the community get quality goods at reasonable prices but also helps small and medium traders (SMEs) like him to continue business in the current uncertain economic challenges.
“PJMKM has helped me a lot to go on with my business, in fact I was thinking of closing the operation so when I got this opportunity I went all out and business started getting better.
“ I used to operate a vending machine business at Plus Expressway for almost 12 years, but during the Movement Control Order (MCO) my business dropped, I diversified my income by opening a fresh market, Alhamdulillah this business is getting better,“ he told Bernama.
A Bernama survey found that customers started visiting the Shahril Fresh Market as early as 7.45 am and people started queuing up to the end of the building at 9 am to get PJMKM goods which started yesterday and today.
Shahril said this time, more than 2,000 chickens were allocated for sale with vegetables and other basic necessities at 40 per cent cheaper than the market price.
“The allocation of more than 2,000 chickens is targeted to help approximately 500 families and according to market price, chickens are sold at RM8-9 per kilogramme, for this programme two chickens are sold at the price of RM15, while fish are sold at RM8 per kilogramme compared to the market price of RM12. This fresh fish is sourced from Pulau Ketam, Klang with many other items also on sale,“ he said.
In the meantime, a 10-kg bag of rice is sold at a price of RM20 compared to the market price of RM27, and they were sold out in two hours.
Private sector retiree, Mohd Khairuddin Hanapah, 52, said this cheap sales programme is very helpful for the people to get daily necessities.
“I read on Facebook about this cheap sale programme which was held to help the B40 group in particular and the prices are very reasonable at about 30 per cent cheaper than the market price and basic items such as sugar, flour, rice are really important items,“ he said.
For Senawang school cleaner, Norazian Mohd, 43, said cheap sales like this should be held more often and should be done at the end of the month when the workers have received their salaries.
Also taking advantage of the cheap sale is Bangladeshi, Mohd Amran, 35, a landscape worker who also bought basic necessities.
“My boss told me there is a cheap sale here, so I bought rice and eggs for me and my four housemates,“ he said.
In the meantime, Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin said the PJMKM celebration received encouraging response from local residents and it needs to be improved from time to time with additional stocks such as rice, eggs and cooking oil.
The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) allocated RM4.5 million for the 36 state constituencies for PJMKM in Negeri Sembilan from August to December.-Bernama
