SHAH ALAM, Nov 23 — The advent of the state’s Jualan Ehsan Rahmah (JER) is always meant as an intervention to help the rakyat amid rising cost of living, and there is no intention of taking away business from local traders.
State executive councillor for agriculture Izham Hashim said this in responding to concerns raised by an opposition lawmaker that the affordable sales programme, which offers basic goods at below market prices, are eating up the profit margins of small businesses.
“From the beginning, JER was conducted as an intervention. It started with the sale of eggs, and later expanded to include chicken, cooking oil and other basic goods.
“Our intention is none other than to help the rakyat afford these necessities post-Covid, and the response has been extraordinary,” he said in the State Legislative Assembly today.
Such has been JER’s success that Izham said each programme typically sees long queues formed over an hour before the sales officially kicks off at 10am, adding that goods would always be sold off.
Izham said this in response to Sungai Burong assemblyman Mohd Zamri Mohd Zainuldin, who expressed concern that the frequent organisation of JER across various constituencies in the state has been a bane for local traders who are already only making marginal profits.
The PAS lawmaker had also questioned if there is an element of ‘cronyism’ in the issuance of coupons to customers, noting that these would typically be depleted as early as 8.30am.
To this, Izham said it is due to the overwhelming response from the public, and advised those wishing to purchase from the programme to line up earlier.
“We never give priority to certain quarters. If you want, come earlier. We also limit the number of items you can purchase to be fair to others. But certainly, we can’t satisfy everyone.
“It’s similar to the Jom Shopping vouchers. My constituency only received 600 vouchers for Deepavali, but there are more than that who are deserving. There is no issue of cronyism.”
