The Jalan Sekamat Ramadan bazaar stalwarts (back row from left) Rahman and Mohd Rapi; (middle row, from left) ‘roti john’ sellers Amirah Maisarah Adnan and Qistina Batrisya Azmi, ‘murtabak’ seller Faisal Rizal, vegetable ‘pecal lele’ trader Mazliza Abd Malek, roasted honey chicken seller stall assistant Mohd Faizal Sulaiman and ‘ayam percik’ purveyor Fatin Suhana Amirudin; (front) traditional ‘kuih’ seller Muhammad Mazlan bin Razali.
The Ramadan bazaar at Jalan Sekamat in Taman Delima, Kajang, Selangor, is a must visit for Darshini Manokaran, 34, and her mother Kalaiselvi Subramaniam, 67, each year.
Darshini who lives in Saujana Impian, six minutes’ drive away, said what draws her to the bazaar is the variety of delicious food there.
“This is where you can get really good kuih,” she said.
Second-generation soya bean and tau fu fa seller Rahman Yus Effendi, 35, said the bazaar was one of the oldest in Kajang.
“My father was already trading here in 1984, long before the Tourism ministry officially launched the concept of Ramadan bazaars in 2005.
“There were just a few stalls back then,” he said.
“I remember how my father would put me on our peddler’s cart and we would roll ourselves to work in the late afternoon.”
Loyal patrons Darshini (right) and Kalaiselvi.
Rahman said that booking their spot during the fasting month back then just meant marking out an area with string.
“There was an understanding between traders. We knew and respected each other’s boundaries,” he added.
Rahman enjoys the festive atmosphere at the bazaar and having regular customers.
“As we have been in business for such a long time, we have customers whom we knew as children.
“They are now grown up and married with children of their own, and during Ramadan we would get to see them again.”
Ahmad Fahmi, 35, whose family has been selling roti john at the bazaar for over 20 years, said the best time for the stall owners was at break of fast.
“We are like a family here, so when it’s time to break fast, the traders will share and exchange food from each other’s stalls,” he said.
There is a method to ensuring harmony within a Ramadan bazaar, said Mohd Rapi Kamso, 60, who has been tasked by Kajang Municipal Council to organise the event in Jalan Sekamat.
As a member of Persatuan Kemajuan Peniaga Dan Pengerak Penjaja Negeri Selangor, Mohd Rapi manages some 140 traders at this bazaar with the help of eight committee members including two members from the Volunteer Corps (Rela).
Traders pay RM600 per lot, with the charge covering waste management.
Abdul Rahman with his song sheets in braille belting out local tunes at the bazaar in Kajang.
To attract a footfall of some 3,000 visitors per day throughout the entire duration of the bazaar’s operation period, it is important to ensure the stalls offer a good variety of food.
“When I first started managing the bazaar three years ago, I had 27 traders just for drinks alone,” said Mohd Rapi, who used to be in research and development at a plantation company before venturing out as a pasar malam trader in 1996.
“Instead of turning them away, I let them set up stalls and waited to see which ones would return the next year.
“Presently, we only have 13 and that is the quota we have set for drinks for now.
“Next comes stall arrangement. As 50% of our traders have already been in business for more than two generations, we let them lock their spots first.
“After that, we will arrange the newcomers.
“This is a process that requires a lot of diplomacy on the organiser’s part and cooperation from traders.
“So let’s say, if one trader is selling tepung pelita, then the stall in front as well as the one beside it should not be selling the same item,” said Mohd Rapi.
To liven up the atmosphere this year, blind busker Abdul Rahman Zaidi was invited to perform an array of Malay evergreen hits in the early part of the evening.
