BUTTERWORTH: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants all leaders to go to the ground to understand the people's problems better.
He said this was why he chose to spend time with the ordinary folk before prayers on Fridays, to listen to them and find ways to resolve whatever issues.
He also said he chose to visit small restaurants, stalls and petty traders as it was where the majority of Malaysians would throng to.
"If you look at my experience, every Friday before prayers, I would reach these stalls or small restaurants to be with the people… (I do this) not only during the elections season. I listen to their grouses on increase in prices and the poor condition of their premises. I see for myself the problem.
"I want all leaders to do the same. Who else will look into the needs of petty traders, the ordinary Malaysians, if not us?
"At a time when the economy is rapidly growing and tens of billions of ringgit in investments are coming in, including Google, Microsoft and Infineon, we should not forget the ordinary Malaysians. We must strike a balance.
"While we need these investments to secure jobs, we should not forget that besides these factories, there needs to be the 'warung', the petty traders to cater to the 70 per cent of workers.
"These are the people we need to look after. I told the Google management (about this) that when I met them," he said at the launch of the National Hawkers and Petty Traders Carnival 2024 (HPPK 2024) at PICCA Convention Centre @ Butterworth Arena here today.
Present at the event were Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick and his deputy Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar.
Meanwhile, Anwar announced an additional RM250,000 allocation for HPPK 2024.
Elaborating, Anwar said during his first year of looking after the Kuala Lumpur city, he put a stop to the building of more iconic buildings, opting rather to ensure its cleanliness.
He said he saw to the need to ensure cleaner "warung" and small restaurants.
"The states should also look into this. We (the government) leave the big stores to the private sector. We oversee the smaller stores.
"Are we not ashamed when we talk about Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Baru but when people visit our 'warung', which are thronged by 80 per cent of our own people, they are run down with dirty toilets, broken flooring and such.
"This is why I am focusing to improve all this. I went to Kelantan and I announced RM5.6 million for Pasar Siti Khadijah. Why? Because there are close to 3,000 petty traders there.
"This is our policy. That is why our allocation is fair. To look after the needs of the majority of our people," he added.
Meanwhile, Anwar also reminded big corporations, with high earnings, to have programmes for the lower income people.