Now 89, the soft-spoken woman fondly known as Chik Ah raised 10 children by making and selling Dodol Lemak Manis Memikat Chik Ah, using a treasured recipe she has guarded since 1975.
Widowed in 1979, Bakiah was left to shoulder the burden of a large family alone. In those early years, survival meant taking on whatever work she could find.
“After my husband passed away, I had many children to care for. I earned a living picking vegetables in the garden just to get by,” she told Bernama at her home in Kampung Jasa, Chemor.
“But when Hari Raya came, I would worry: how was I going to find money to buy new clothes for my children?”
Luckily, Bakiah had picked up the tricks of the dodol trade by helping neighbours stir the sticky treat for festive celebrations and kenduri.
Drawing on those skills, she began making the traditional sweet herself. Then, accompanied by her seventh child, Aziati Salleh, Bakiah would carry baskets of freshly made dodol and take the bus into Ipoh town.
“I would go to government offices during Ramadan, sitting by the lifts and waiting for people to pass by so I could offer the dodol I made with my children’s help. I even allowed customers to ‘hutang’ and pay me later,” Bakiah recalled.
Thankfully the response was encouraging, and Bakiah soon began building a base of regular customers, followed by agents. “That income helped me prepare for Hari Raya, buying clothes and essentials for my children.”
What started as a seasonal effort gradually grew into a year-round business, with her dodol becoming a highly sought treat at gatherings and as gifts.
Her production methods have evolved over the past 50 years – from cooking over firewood to using gas, and now supported by machinery funded through grants from the rural and regional development ministry.
Despite these advancements, the soul of Bakiah’s dodol remains unchanged. According to Aziati, 56, her mother remains meticulous about quality, insisting on freshly extracted coconut milk and finely milled glutinous rice.
“The process of making dodol is demanding as it needs to be cooked for up to six hours, with the mixture constantly stirred throughout. That is why the machinery provided through the grant has been a tremendous help,” Aziati said.
She added that, despite her mother’s advancing age, Bakiah continues to play an active role by overseeing production with her unwavering eye for detail.
Aziati proudly shared that they have customers from all over Malaysia as well as from Singapore. In the future, she hopes to carry on her mother’s legacy, ensuring the half-century-old family business will endure for at least a while longer.