BIG DAY: People are honoured the prime minister will drop by at their market stalls on Saturday
KUCHING: FORTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD fishmonger, Jeffrey Heng, is all excited and keeping his fingers crossed waiting for this Saturday.
He has a wish which he hopes will come true -- to greet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during his scheduled walkabout at the Pasar Tani in Matang Jaya, near here.
Heng has even rehearsed what he wants to say to Najib.
"Dear prime minister, how are you? Welcome to Pasar Tani, Matang Jaya.
"That is if I don't get a sudden attack of nerves and become tongue tied," said Heng with a laugh when met at his stall, at the market, yesterday.
Heng said he really hoped that the prime minister would stop by at his fish stall in the market, where he had been operating with his wife for over a decade.
The prime minister, who will be in Sarawak for a three-day visit from Thursday, is slated to have a walkabout at the market early on Saturday before heading to Petra Jaya for the Jelajah Janji Ditepati carnival.
The carnival would be held at the public car park of Wisma Bapa Malaysia.
Heng said he was caught by surprise on knowing that the prime minister would be coming to the market.
"I am really surprised that he would come to a small place like Matang Jaya and meet common people like us.
"We are ready. We will make the prime minister feel welcome here."
With news of Najib's visit buzzing around the market, traders are filled with excitement and are wondering what they have to do for the visit.
Vegetable seller Lee Kim Fook, 55, said he would not know what to say if Najib talked to him.
"I would probably fumble and mumble. I never thought that the prime minister will come here.
"For simple folk like us, it is a rare opportunity. It gives me the chance to see Najib face to face," he said with a big smile.
Lee added he would replace his "old" display tables with "more presentable" ones.
"Then, I will also make sure that I have more vegetables on display so that my stall will look nicer.
"I will clean up the area around my stall to make sure my place is clean and tidy for his visit," said Lee, who has been operating at the market for 13 years.
Another vegetable seller, Mohd Firdaus Ahmad, 26, hopes he will get a little time with Najib so that the prime minister will be able "to hear some of the problems the stall holders here face".
Pointing to the frayed and torn canvas canopies, Firdaus said he hoped to ask the prime minister "to help replace the canopies with wooden structures and set up better stalls for us."
- Harian Metro
- Berita Harian
- Business Times
- My Gadget Planet
- Travelific
- Harum
- Eats
- Properties
- News Image Bank (NIB)
- New Economic Model
- NST Reviews
- NiEXUS
- Friends of Travel Times
- Property News
- NSTLIVE Archive
- Spell-It-Right
