GUA MUSANG: A young Orang Asli couple, bringing along their nine-month-old infant, braved a 50km journey on a logging road to buy Rahmah goods.
Asri Aris, 21, a plantation worker, and his wife Alisa Along, 23, of the Temiar community, rode on a motorcycle from Pos Balar to the Rahmah Sales event in Kuala Betis yesterday, taking six hours for the ride to and fro.
Alisa said they did not want to miss buying foodstuff at a cheaper price and left their home at 8am.
“We heard about the Rahmah Sales (in Kuala Betis) two days ago. My husband took leave from work today. We wanted to buy daily essentials, including rice, vegetables and other foodstuff.
“We were able to save some money today because we received a 2kg container of cooking oil for free. It was worth making the six-hour journey up and down,” she told reporters at Dewan Ayahanda in Kuala Betis, as reported by Bernama.
Another customer, Along Ngah Jasin, 50, said he and his wife Sila Jelma Angah, 43, spent almost RM200 to buy four 10kg bags of rice, eggs, chicken and sugar.
Meanwhile, Galas assemblyman Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim said the Rahmah Sales initiative helped the people to buy goods at reasonable prices.
He said this was the third such event at an Orang Asli settlement this year.
“Rahmah Sales have been held 18 times in the Gua Musang parliamentary constituency by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry.
“The government provided a subsidy of RM240,000 for sales of up to RM1.8mil in the constituency. This subsidy from the government for the rural people is huge, and I believe the programme is a good initiative where the shop comes to the people,” he said.
