She said when she asked the stall owners if they would accept e-wallet payment any time soon, she was told it was unnecessary or too complicated for them to understand.

“Most of those I talked to were elderly and have been working in the wet markets for a long time,” Lee told Bernama.

The Penang government will begin to enable e-wallet transactions throughout the state by March, in line with the federal government’s e-Tunai Rakyat programme, to encourage the seamless use of cashless payments.

Bank officer Andy Lim, 33, said he has four e-wallet apps and would use them when he eats out, calls for e-hailing services or while shopping at hypermarkets.

“I still use either cash or card as a back-up. Maybe a year or two down the road, I will be comfortable going fully cashless,” he said.

Food court hawker Nickson Poh Chuan Kheng, 32, said that the cashless option has made it convenient to manage and track cashless transactions made during working hours.

“I notice that most of the customers who use the e-wallet to make purchases are youngsters. Those who are older still use cash,” he said.