PLEASE RECONSIDER: Fama has been urged to reconsider its decision in not allowing a non-halal corner in the new market.
KUCHING: The state Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama), which manages Medan Niaga Satok, is urged to rethink the rationale for not allowing non-halal corner in the market.
State PKR Women chief Nurhanim Mokhsen said the decision was unwise considering that there was a corner for the traders to sell their non-halal products at the old Sunday Market in Satok.
She asserted as the result of the restriction, the income of six traders selling non-halal products from the Sunday Market was affected, although they were eventually relocated to Sungai Maong Community Market.
“I think they (Fama) have to seriously reconsider their decision not to set up that non-halal corner at the Medan Niaga Satok because over the past 20 to 30 years, we have been projecting Sunday Market as tourist attraction and also for local people.
“When non-Muslim shoppers go the Sunday Market, they could find everything there.
“Now with the restriction imposed at Medan Niaga Satok, they have to go to another place to purchase non-halal
products.
“And we are only talking about Saturday and Sunday for the non-halal products to be sold at the market,” Nurhanim told a press conference here yesterday.
In an effort to find a solution to the issue, PKR Women Wing recently held a discussion with state Fama director Puad @ Faizal Din.
“From the discussion, we found out that Fama had previously held a discussion with the higher and local authorities and they decided not to set up the non-halal corner.
“The reason given was that the Medan Niaga Satok is located in Petra Jaya, where 80 per cent of the population is Malay Muslim and they feel that the non-halal product should not be sold there,” she said.
“We are quite surprised with the answer because from our understanding, Medan Niaga Satok is the new location for the Sunday Market traders so why did they need to exclude the six non-halal traders? They have to accommodate everybody.”
Nurhanim said she also could not understand the rationale of the explanation given because if the authorities were to speak about Medan Niaga Satok as being located in a predominantly Malay area in Petra Jaya, the Sunday Market in
Satok also came under the same area.
“The director also said that they are happy to welcome the six traders but they cannot sell non-halal products. To us, what is the point because the traders have been selling non-halal products for many years and the point is we want a non-halal corner to be set up at Medan Niaga Satok,” she stressed.
Besides depriving the traders of non-halal stalls to earn their living, Nurhanim said the restriction by Fama was against the local culture whereby the people, who had no problem sitting together for a meal although they were from different religion and race.
“In Sarawak, we are proud of the culture that all of us can sit together for a meal. It doesn’t matter whether the food that our friends take are halal or not,” she added.
Meanwhile, PKR Women National vice-president Voon Shiak Ni believed that the Malay community would not object to the setting up of a non-halal corner at the market.
“Medan Niaga Satok is open to all so it is not wise for any segregation to be made on the stalls. We have to preserve the entity of the Sunday Market. If the restriction continues, it will discourage many shoppers to go there,” she said.