KOTA KINABALU (Oct 21): The MADANI Rakyat 2024 Sayangi Sabah programme achieved its target by recording a total of 485,474 visitors during the three-day event held at Likas Sports Complex, here, from Friday to Sunday.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the programme for Sabah zone which was opened by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, succeeded in achieving its objective in the effort to bring government programmes and services to the grassroots level.
“The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) as the lead ministry would like to express its gratitude to all parties across the ministry as well as federal and state agencies, private companies, entrepreneurs and Sabahans who came to enliven the programme,” he said in a statement Monday.
Armizan said the implementation of the MADANI Rakyat 2024 Programme for Sabah zone was a collaboration between the Performance Acceleration Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) together with KPDN and the Sabah government.
He said the programme involved as many as 36 units of the ministry and agencies of the federal government and the Sabah government in addition to the involvement of the private sector by offering a variety of services which received extraordinary response from visitors.
Armizan said as many as 215 rakyat touch point services were among the components provided in the programme, besides involving 118 MADANI Sales entrepreneurs.
It also featured asset exhibitions by four government agencies, 14 employers at the career carnival, 40 engagement sessions, 20 outdoor activities, 28 cost of living services and 18 youth agenda activities, he said.
At the opening ceremony, Armizan said, the KITA GEMPUR initiative which is the campaign against manipulation and leakage, was also launched as a strategic move by the government through KPDN to build a mass movement to deal with the issue of manipulation in business activities and leakage involving controlled goods and subsidised controlled goods.
He said the presentation of individual land title deeds (Native Title) to representatives of recipients from eight districts was also held at the ceremony and the effort was part of an initiative under the Sabah State Customary Land Service Programme (PANTAS).
It was implemented through the assistance of the federal government’s allocation by the Implementation Coordination Unit, JPM and implemented by the Sabah Land and Survey Department, he said.
According to him, one of the objectives of PANTAS is to preserve and protect the interests of the Natives of Sabah in their claim to customary land rights and land ownership under the Sabah Land Ordinance.
The opening ceremony of the programme also witnessed the Prime Minister handing over cheques to the recipient representatives of the MADANI Community Prosperity Programme to improve the socioeconomics of the people through the Community Based Project approach and launch the MADANI Special Plate Number for bidding purposes, he said.
Meanwhile, the MADANI Rakyat 2024 Sayangi Sabah programme is a platform for persons with disabilities (PwD) entrepreneurs here to showcase their own business products, achieving double the profit.
Mohd Jan Jamnu, 40, a PwD trader, who produces his own food products, including sambal, said there should be more of these programmes in the state due to the lack of public exposure to these matters, which reduces the opportunities for disabled entrepreneurs to introduce their products.
“Not many in the community know the uniqueness and potential of PwD entrepreneurs, therefore, programmes like this can be helpful to entrepreneurs like us to double our sales,” Mohd Jan, who uses a prosthetic leg, told Bernama.
He also wanted to thank government agencies such as the Sabah Fisheries and Fishermen’s Development Corporation (Ko-Nelayan) as well as the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) for the great assistance given to him and his wife in managing their food products since 2020.
“I began doing a nasi lemak and kuih-muih business in 2016, however, in 2019, I was discovered by the Department of Industrial Development and Research (DIDR) who encouraged me to sell my products at a sales programme in the Likas area,” he said.
Elaborating on the three-day MADANI Rakyat 2024 Sayangi Sabah programme that ended Sunday at the Likas Sports Complex, Mohd Jan said he and his wife did not want to miss this opportunity to promote their sambal food products.
“Alhamdulillah, during the three days of this programme, there had been a significant increase…about double the usual sales,” he said.
He also said that their sambal products under their brand name ‘Bang Muq’, comprising various types of sambal such as salted fish, Tuhau and squid, received strong support from the visitors who attended the programme.
“For this, I wish to thank the government, especially the MADANI Government, for greatly helping us as PWD entrepreneurs to promote our sales to the community,” he added. – Bernama