KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah leg of the Madani Rakyat Programme (PMR) turned out to be a major attraction for residents, recording a remarkable turnout last weekend.
The event, titled PMR 2024 Sayangi Sabah, was held at the Likas Sports Complex, attracting approximately 485,474 people over three days from Oct 18.
Organised by the Prime Minister's Office through the Project Acceleration and Coordination Unit (Pacu), in collaboration with the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry as the lead and the state government, the event was inaugurated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Saturday (Oct 19).
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor also attended the event.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the event featured 36 exhibition booths set up by federal and state ministries, agencies, and the private sector.
Armizan noted during a site inspection last week that the highest attendance recorded for the PMR before the Sabah leg was in Sarawak, with over 300,000 attendees.
The Minister added that the Sabah PMR offered 215 rakyat touchpoint services, 118 Madani Sales entrepreneurs, asset exhibitions by four government agencies, 28 cost of living services, 18 youth agenda activities, 40 engagement sessions, and participation from 14 employers in the career carnival.
"The PMR Sayangi Sabah achieved its goal of reaching out to the grassroots with the government’s programmes and services. We thank all state and federal ministries, agencies, private companies, entrepreneurs, and especially Sabahans, for making the programme a success," Armizan said.
This year's PMR began in Selangor for the PMR Middle Zone, followed by the Northern Zone in Penang, the Eastern Zone in Pahang, the Southern Zone in Johor, and the Sarawak Zone. It is a continuation of the One-Year with the Madani Government programme held at Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur last December.
The programme aims to give the community an opportunity to understand, see, and evaluate new policies and initiatives implemented by the Federal Government to improve the well-being of the people.
Armizan said the Prime Minister also launched the Kita Gempur initiative to curb manipulation and leakages.
“This strategic move by the government through the ministry aims to build a mass movement to address manipulation in business activities and leakages involving controlled and subsidised goods. With its launch, the government is committed to involving the rakyat in ensuring efforts to combat manipulation and leakages succeed," he stated.
Additionally, the event featured the handing over of native titles to recipients from eight districts.
Armizan explained that the issuance of these titles by the state Lands and Surveys Department is part of the Sabah Native Customary Land Service Programme, or Pantas, with financial assistance from the Prime Minister’s Department’s Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU).
He added that Anwar presented mock cheques to recipients from the Sejahtera Komuniti Madani (Sejati Madani) programme to improve the people’s socio-economic status through a community-based project approach.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister launched the Madani Series Special Registration Numbers (NPIs) for bidding purposes.
