SUNGAI SIPUT - Traversing hilly forests for over two kilometres and fording rivers are just part and parcel of Jaminan Alang’s annual routine as he seeks out bamboo to fulfil orders from lemang sellers whenever the Aidilfitri celebration draws near.
An Orang Asli of the Temiar tribe from Kampung Manggis, Pos Yum here, Jaminan, 36, has spent the last four years wandering through the forests seeking out the best types of bamboo, having previously only taken payment for cutting bamboo before embarking on his current, more serious business venture.
"I would take orders from 4,000 to 10,000 bamboo segments a year from lemang sellers around Ipoh before venturing into the forest with some other workers. Our preparations include calculating how many trips we need to make and how many hundreds of bamboo we would need to bring out a day,” he shared with Bernama during one of his bamboo hunting sojourns here recently.
The bamboo in his area are of very high quality and suitable for lemang as they are quite thin and the glutinous rice would be well cooked even without needing to be cooked for too long.
"A bamboo patch can yield about 30 to 40 long bamboo that can be cut into segments, so the cutting assignment usually is 300 segments a day, done in two sessions.
"A segment usually sells for RM1.40 to RM1.50 to wholesalers or traders, depending on size, and the highest order has reached 10,000 segments,” he said, adding that he usually would start entering the forest a fortnight before Hari Raya to settle his orders.
Jaminan shared how he started his bamboo supply business, stating it was something he chanced upon when he met a lemang seller after leaving his village while working at a factory.
"I asked the seller if he wanted to buy some bamboo for lemang from me as my village had a lot of suitable bamboo, I had that thought in my head for well over a year.
"After a year, when Aidilfitri approached, I contacted the seller and I’m one of his permanent suppliers to this day,” he said.
Jaminan realised that sourcing for bamboo was tough but it has become a source of income for his family, as well as for other villagers.
"There are risks entering the forests and we do know our safety is never guaranteed, but we are thankful that nothing bad has happened so far.
"Being cut by bamboo is a normal occurrence for us, as well as fording rivers and hiking up hilly forests, it’s an annual routine for us here,” he said.
He also admitted that he is keeping up with current trends and has tried to use social media to market his bamboo.
"I’m learning suitable video editing techniques from my friends, I just want to maximise social media usage that seems to be able to help boost orders.
"For now, I’ve just set up a TikTok account but I’ve planned on how to market and expand the business, so I’m just waiting for the right time to do it,” he said smilingly. - BERNAMA