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 an...
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