THE Jualan Murah Keluarga Malaysia programme, which takes place from the third week of August until December, is much awaited by the public to purchase daily necessities at a cheaper price.

The programme, which offers goods at 20% lower than the market price, was held in several states today and received an overwhelming response from local residents since early this morning.

In Terengganu, standard chicken sold at RM6.99 per kilogramme (kg) becoming the hot selling item at a supermarket in Bukit Kecil near Kuala Terengganu.

Housewife, Farah Aina Kassim, 38, said she always pays attention to current developments to find out where the programme will be held.

“Today, I bought a fairly large standard chicken for about RM16. This was cheaper compared to other places, which is around RM8 per kg,” she told Bernama.

Prior to this, Special Task Force of Jihad Against Inflation chairman Annuar Musa said the programme would be held for 18 weeks in 639 state constituencies nationwide and RM80 million has been allocated through five ministries as implementing agencies.

In Malacca, a total of 28 business premises including Agrobazaar Rakyat, grocery stores, mini markets and Melaka Barat Area Fishermen’s Association participated in the two-day programme.

A mini market operator in Taman Bukit Tembakau, Idris Minhat, 62, said although the programme offers essential goods at cheaper prices, traders still get to enjoy some profit.

Idris said customers started to throng his shop at 9am to purchase goods such as rice, fresh chicken, fish, vegetables, local fruits and eggs.

In Johor, the programme held at BS Freshmart, Jalan Sri Mersing, Mersing received encouraging response from the public since the premises was opened at 10am.

BS Freshmart assistant manager Tan Chee Kiat said among the promotions are fresh chicken at RM6.80 per kg, ikan cencaru at RM5 per kg, while vegetables such as white radish is sold at RM1 per kg, compared to the original price of RM2.80.

A customer, Aradella Ali, 31, said she was thankful for the programme and suggested that it offers more items at a cheaper price.

In Kelantan, the programme was held in Pasaraya Jelira, Kok Lanas and a local resident, Mustapa Karim, 70, when met commended the initiative as people get to purchase daily needs at a very reasonable price and helped them to save money.

“This cheap sales programme needs to continue because it truly helps the middle class and the poor. Usually, I would spend more than RM50 to buy rice, meat, chicken and eggs but today, it was less than that,” he said.

Pasaraya Jelira Kok Lanas owner Ahmad Deraman said a total of 200 chickens were sold out in less than two hours.

In Pahang, Asri Othman, 69, said the programme at Dataran Kerayong, Bera allows him to bring home a huge supply of grocery items without having to spend a lot of money,

“I came here because I wanted to see for myself the price difference. I was reluctant at first because there would be a lot of people. But, it was worth it especially for me who doesn’t have a fixed income,” he said.

Zulaikha Azhar, 26, from Kampung Batu Papan who came to the programme with her mother said they were lucky as they got to purchase fresh chicken for RM5 per kg during happy hour.

“It was a good experience because the number of customers allowed to enter the booth is controlled and there were many payment counters. We don’t have to wait long even though everyone buys in large quantities,” she said. – Bernama, August 27, 2022.