Referring to a recent incident at the Bukit Mertajam KTM station, Amiruddin Ahmad Abdul Jalil said he sympathised with the IPR entrepreneur who was affected.
He shared how he suffered the same experience with his food vending machine in KL Sentral last month.
“I woke up early in the morning to prepare food for sale and went to KL Sentral, only to find out that the food could not be sold as the machine was not working after the power had been switched off.
“I hope the public can have more empathy. Please do not harm our rice bowl. Everyone is trying to earn a living, and we should respect that,” he told FMT.
Amiruddin, 28, who sells food such as fried rice, fried noodles, and kuih at his vending machine, said he can earn up to RM4,000 a month.
Last Monday, economy minister Rafizi Ramli criticised individuals who switched off the electrical supply to the IPR vending machine at the Bukit Mertajam KTM station, rendering it inoperable.
To prevent similar incidents from recurring, Amiruddin suggested that the power points be locked to prevent “itchy fingers” from switching off the machines.
He also hoped that such machines could be equipped with a backup generator in case of any disruption to the power supply.
Amiruddin said that even though each IPR participant is given an app to monitor the operation of their vending machines remotely, such tools would be useless unless the programme has wide support from the community.
“There needs to be cooperation from all parties. That includes buyers, vendors, and the owners of the premises. Everyone needs to play their role,” said Amiruddin, a Sabah native who works at a factory in Puchong, Selangor.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) suggested that the premises where these IPR vending machine are located be equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor any act of vandalism.
“This will make such people think twice before doing such things,” said Fomca treasurer Nur Asyikin Aminuddin.
The government launched the RM750 million IPR programme in March, and an estimated 150,000 people are expected to benefit from the initiatives to boost their income.
The IPR involves three initiatives – food entrepreneur initiative (Insan) scheme, agro entrepreneur initiative (Intan), and service operator initiative (Ikhsan). Insan, the programme Amiruddin is participating in, involves selling ready-made food through vending machines provided by the government.
It was previously reported that an estimated 150,000 people will benefit from IPR’s initiatives.