SEKINCHAN – After conquering stage four cancer, Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos has channelled his second chance at life into empowering Sekinchan’s fishing community, helping them turn low-value catches into lucrative salted fish products that earn participants up to RM15,000 a month.
Having survived a life-threatening illness, the Sungai Besar Umno division chief founded the Sekinchan Salted Fish Collection Centre in Kampung Sungai Leman to help local fishermen turn their catches into profitable downstream products.
The project, which now involves 10 small-scale fishing families, has already recorded sales totaling RM150,000 in its first month of operation.
Each participant reportedly earns up to RM15,000.
“Previously, they only sold cheap fish such as gelama or cencaru for RM1 to RM2 per kilogramme, but when processed into salted fish, the value increases many times over.
“We purchase their catch in cash and also provide capital to those who cannot afford it yet and the results have been very encouraging,” he told Sinar.
Jamal added that the project has also attracted the attention of Tekun Nasional, which has agreed to provide financial support for small entrepreneurs involved in the program.
He said the idea was born while he was undergoing five months of cancer treatment.
“I’m a businessman, so while I was in the hospital, I thought about what I could do to help villagers, especially the fishermen.
“That’s when I came up with the idea to make Sekinchan not only famous for its fresh fish but also for salted fish as a new SME product,” he said.
The centre, Jamal clarified, is not just about business but also a step toward developing a new small and medium enterprise (SME) that could become a unique tourism attraction for Sekinchan.
“When visitors go to Langkawi, they look for anchovies.
“The same goes for Tanjung Dawai, where people look for dried fish. I want visitors coming to Sekinchan to make it a must to buy salted fish; this will become the new identity of this area,” he said.
Currently, more than 20 types of salted fish are produced at the centre, including bulu ayam, cencaru, gelama, various dried fish and perkasam.
Jamal also shared that his health is now stable after overcoming stage four lung cancer that had spread to his brain and nerves.
“I surrender everything to Allah SWT. The most important thing is prayer and spirit. Being sick is not an excuse to stop living; instead, it becomes the motivation to keep doing something meaningful,” he said.
Jamal was declared cancer-free in June after five months of treatment that successfully removed all traces of the disease from his body.