A scenic view of the Pahang River from onboard floating raft houses is not only what Rumah Rakit Maraie offers locals and tourists at Kampung Padang Rumbia in Pekan.
The “back-to-nature” hotspot also boasts a floating restaurant and a shark catfish farm, known locally as “ikan patin”. Despite its name, the shark catfish is not a shark and is a species of catfish native to the rivers in Southeast Asia.
Mohammad Haniff Mohd Rasli, 38, quit his job as a civil servant in Penang to help grow his family business in his village at Kampung Padang Rumbia in Pekan three years ago.
He decided to grow his father’s business and at the same time, help the small businesses in his village grow their income.
Haniff was formally a radiographer at the Advance Medical Dental Institute (USM) at Bertam, Kepala Batas, Penang, from 2007 until 2021.
“I went back to Pekan during Covid-19 to help my father with his business which he started in 2017. After that, I quit my job and have never looked back since, even though I was only a short way away from being eligible for pension,” he said, adding that at that point, there were only fish cages and one hut.
“My father started with rearing the catfish in cages along the Pahang River. Then, some people started to come around for their fishing activities. After that, my father built a hut to shield his fishing buddies from the heat. What followed was just a progression from wanting to provide more comfort for his friends,” he said.
Soon, his father added a rest area and some toilets, and started receiving bookings for fishing trips during the weekends.
“Initially, I helped to build a website and started a Facebook page to promote the place. The business started to flourish after that and we were fully booked every weekend,” said Haniff.
He added that his father, Rasli Yusof 67, continued to build the raft houses and currently, they have 13 raft houses and two chalets for rent.
“Business started to pick up after the Covid-19 lockdown. Everyone was looking for a place to get away. The city folks, especially, wanted to do some domestic travelling that offered something close to nature, like homestays and fishing. And we offer exactly that.
“Small businesses in the village such as the grocer's store, restaurants and boat rental also benefited from the increase in tourists. We usually recommended the shops in our village to the tourists so that we could ‘kongsi rezeki’,” he said. Hanif reckoned that business in the ‘kampung’ can be good if there was planning, good publicity and good marketing.
Hanif said that it costs RM200 to rent a chalet and RM600 for a double-storey raft house. “Set lunches for a variety of fish are also available for between RM12.90 and RM15.90,” he said.
In December 2023, Rumah Rakit Maraie obtained its operating business licenses from the Municipal Council of Pekan. “The Crown Prince of Pahang, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah also visited our place in March this year and gave us good reviews,” he said beamingly.
For the catfish business, Haniff said that he now manages 90 cages of catfish. He freezes the fish and distributes them to the whole of Malaysia.
“We have a cold room that can store up to five tons of catfish, and we use a specialised machine to vacuum park the fish for delivery. We use some of the fish for our restaurant,” he said, adding that some of the customers’ favourites are the Curry Patin, Grilled Patin and the Sambal Patin.
Other than rearing catfish, Haniff’s family also rears chickens and cows.
“We have 87,000 chickens and 98 cows on our land. These are primarily to supply our local distributors, and of course, some are reserved for our restaurant.
“My family has been in the agriculture business for eleven years,” he said.
* This article was published in theSun on 12 July 2024.