A Ramadan bazaar in Melaka. These yearly street markets draw hundreds of people in the month they are open and are big business around the country. Photo: The Star/A. Malex Yahaya
As I’m writing this, the holy month of Ramadan is rolling into Syawal, and I’m considering all the feasting ahead. Though, actually, it sometimes feels like the feasting in Syawal celebrates a month of fasting that was punctuated with even more feasting – for who can resist the temptation of the Ramadan bazaars and their eclectic collection of over-priced fare, precooked hours before consumption?
Unsurprisingly, Ramadan bazaars are big business. A recent newspaper article highlighted that although the Seremban city council charges traders at most RM500 for a space in one of the city’s Ramadan bazaars, people have been reselling them for up to RM8,000. This is nothing compared to two years ago when people were literally punching and kicking each other over bazaar plots.
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