Some eight e-Kasih kiosks were awarded by Ipoh City Council (MBI) today on August 6.
The e-Kasih kiosks project is a continuation of the New Economic Model under the Tenth Malaysia Plan, which is part of the Economic Plan Unit (EPU) by the federal government.
Present at the award presentation ceremony in the council building were mayor of Ipoh, Dato’ Rumaizi Baharin, State Executive Councillor for Housing, Local Government and Tourism, Dato’ Nolee Ashilin Mohamed Radzi and city secretary of MBI, Zuraina Kamarul Ariff.
According to Rumaizi, the project’s objective is to assist those under the B20 and B40 categories in generating their own income to bring them out of urban poverty.
“40 new kiosks in total were built by MBI this year in eight locations, which are six kiosks respectively in Rapat Setia, Ampang, Chemor and Pekan Razaki,” he mentioned. “Four kiosks respectively are in Pengkalan, Taman Rishah, Buntong and Taman Perpaduan.
“Hopefully, operators of these kiosks will continue running their businesses, despite being at the early stages,” he expressed. “After all, a business is one of the many income sources which promises daily returns if one is hardworking and patient.”
Meanwhile, Nolee Ashilin told reporters in a media session after the award presentation that all business premises around town will be required to download and use the MySejahtera mobile app for customers’ registration.
“We’ve liaised with local authorities (PBT) to monitor and ensure that these premises comply with the new regulation,” she said. “They will be required to display the QR code at premise entrances for visitors’ scanning.” 
Nolee Ashilin assured the public that the app is safe and efficient to use.
“Data entered into the app is secured because it’s solely accessible to the government for official use,” she noted. “It’ll also be easier for the government to perform proper contact tracing if and only if, there is a spike in COVID-19 cases during these two to four weeks.”
Chris Teh
