KUCHING: The Chinese New Year Festive Sale is here once again, a vibrant and bustling hub of activity that captures the spirit of the festive season.
Stalls are lined up in a kaleidoscope of colours, decorated with red lanterns, banners bearing auspicious messages, and golden ornaments symbolising prosperity and good fortune.
The air is filled with the mingling aromas of traditional delicacies and incense, creating an enchanting sensory experience.
Vendors from all walks of life resemble the unity of Sarawak communities coming together, each contributing their unique offerings.
Moliana Yusuf, 33, said she has been participating in the Chinese New Year Sale centred at Kenyalang Park since 13 years ago.
Among delicacies that she sells include traditional Malay biscuits or crackers like ‘Tempeyek’, Biskut Makmur, Chocolate Biscuit, Tart Nenas and others.
“Thank God, so far the sale has been quite good. This is only the beginning of the Chinese New Year Festive Sale, a bit slower. Maybe it is still very early (to Chinese New Year day), but thus far the response has been good,” said Moliana.
On varieties of biscuits that she sells, she highlighted that the Chinese community does not like colourful biscuits, thus why most of her biscuits sold are plain colour.
“The Chinese community does not like biscuits that are too colourful,” she said, adding that all biscuits are home made, and she also supplies to other outlets in the city.
As for 52-year-old Chin Say Foong, she has been selling the Lucky Bamboo plant or Dracaena Sanderiana plant, ever since she participated in the Chinese New Year Sale at Kenyalang Park more than 10 years ago.
“It is generally a symbol of luck, fortune, health and prosperity,” she said, adding that she sells them at RM68 per vase/pot, which is a good bargain for such category of plants.
And in Kho Ghee Beng, a 60-year-old businessman’s case, no one will miss his stall as his is the only one with a big backdrop of the Year of the Snake.
Another participant, who has been in the Chinese New Year Market for 15 years, his stall has grown bigger and the business now has two partners.
Kho is selling varieties of biscuits some of which are home made by his suppliers, dried cuttlefish, crackers, ‘Bakpo’ (non-halal) and any popular Chinese New Year biscuits that you can find in any home, he has them all.
“For ‘bakpo’ we are selling at between RM35 and RM63, depending on the weight. This is a popular pork jerky that you can find in Chinese homes during Chinese New Year. It is not that expensive as they say, compared to the last few years, and even if it is, you only get to eat them once a year,” he said.
Another popular stall that one can visit and make purchases belongs to Saiful Bahari Lemang Betawi, who has taken up the challenge to sell glutinous rice (Lemang) in a Chinese community.
Mohammad Saiful Bahari Rosli, 48, said, he represent Heritage Food Sarawak, supplying ‘Lemang’, ‘Ketupat’, ‘Rendang’, ‘Kuah Satay’ and ‘Satay’.
“We have always been promoting our very own product which is everyone’s favourite and especially among the Chinese community. At the same time, we take this opportunity to get catering orders during Chinese New Year, which we can supply for our Chinese friends,” he said.
He said initially it was not easy to sell ‘Lemang’ and ‘Ketupat’ as they are wrapped in leaves and the clients could not see what was inside.
“That’s why we cut them like this, and they have a glimpse of the content what’s wrapped with the leaves.
“However, the older generations of the Chinese, they understand what is ‘Lemang’ and ‘Ketupat’, because they grew up with them and they are used to have many Malay friends, so they understand our food,” said Saiful.
He said even on Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan 29, he and his team will be selling ‘Lemang’, ‘Ketupat’, ‘Kuah Satay’ and ‘Satay’, right in front of a supermarket (where the old theatre is), just in case if there are last minute orders.
