by BERNAMA

KOTA BHARU –  It’s like a gift to my late father who died due to COVID-19, said Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus Wan Muhd ​​Shukeri (picture), 35, a former executive at an automobile company in Selangor, of an online wet market platform, www.pasarperantau.com (Pasar Perantau), which he developed with his wife.

“It is to help make it easier for children to buy perishable food for their parents who stay elsewhere, especially amid this COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus said he came up with the idea of ​​setting up the website when his father, Wan Muhd ​​Shukeri Wan Ismail, 65, was diagnosed positive with COVID-19 last February before he succumbed to the virus  on March 27.

“My aim was to avoid my father from going to crowded places should he recover from COVID-19. That was the plan, but Allah SWT knows best, He determines all. My father died.

“However, I proceed to develop the Pasar Perantau website to make it easier for the people, as well as those staying in other places, to get  items from the wet market online and the items delivered to their doorsteps, or to their parents and loved ones,” he told Bernama.

The third of four siblings, Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus, of Jalan Merbau here, said his intention when developing the website was also to avoid people from going out to get their food supply from the market, hence helped to curb the spread of the epidemic in Kelantan.

“InsyaAllah, this platform will make it easier for the public, especially parents and the elderly, not to have to go out to crowded places, such as supermarkets, to buy perishable goods, hence reducing the risk of them being exposed to COVID-19,” he added.

Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus said he was a technical executive at an automobile company in Selangor for 13 years when he decided to quit the job last March to take care of his mother, Faridah Rahman, 66, who was also a COVID-19 patient.

“Alhamdulillah, my mother has fully recovered, but I decided to stay with her because I want to take care of her now that my father has passed away and to focus on my online business,” he added.

Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus, who is married to Nur Asyiqin Hamdan, 24, has a son. Through the online business, the couple provides delivery service for perishable items, such as chicken, beef, seafood, fish vegetables and , fruits, as well as groceries, sold by traders at the Siti Khadijah Market.

The perishable items, like fish and chicken, are cleaned first and then packed in ‘zip lock’ before they are delivered to customers in the Kota Baru town area, as well as in Wakaf Bharu, Peringat and Pasir Tumboh, and also several locations in the Pasir Mas district, he said.

Wan Muhd ​​Firdaus said he had three employees to help him with the delivery and is hoping to expand his service to areas in the Pasir Puteh district.

“Alhamdulillah, Pasar Perantau is getting good response from  residents as well as children staying outside Kelantan who request for the perishable items to be delivered to their parents here,” he added.