The morning in Kampung Abi, Perlis, is never quiet. The sound of the weaving of palas leaves tucked in one-by-one can be heard from the foyers of wooden houses, combined with the steam of boiling coconut milk from the back kitchen. Under the new sunlight, the village women began to work not just to make food, but to preserve the heritage that is now the source of their livelihood.
"In the past, this ketupat palas was only made during Hari Raya, now we pack it almost every day," said Siti Nooraini, a housewife who now leads a small group of ketupat makers in Kampung Abi. "Orders come not only from the night market, but from hotels, cafes, even catering companies in Kuala Lumpur."
Who would have thought, from a small village in the north of the Peninsula, they are now able to generate an income of up to RM30 thousand per month from selling ketupat palas and frozen food products.
The economic journey of Kampung Abi did not happen overnight. According to a MARDI report, this venture was started more than ten years ago by a woman named Hashimah Hashim, the founder of ABY Food Enterprise. Starting from her home kitchen, Hashimah weaves her own ketupat palas, fills glutinous rice and coconut milk, and then sells it in markets around Kangar.
But a challenge soon arose: ketupat palas has a very short shelf life. It cannot be sent far; it cannot be sold for a long time. From there, the bold idea of making ketupat as a frozen product emerged. With technical guidance from MARDI, Hashimah learned how to quickly freeze so that the texture of glutinous rice remains soft when reheated.
"This technology changed everything," Hashimah said in an interview with the MARDI Official Blog. "We can produce ketupat with the same quality, but it can be stored for months without preservatives."
The move opens a new avenue: ketupat palas that used to be only for celebrations can now be sold all year round.
The success of Kampung Abi is not just a small village story. His name is even mentioned in the official Budget 2026 document published by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia. In the report, the government highlighted how the ketupat palas and frozen food project in Kampung Abi is an example of the economic success of the local community.
This program is part of the rural development initiative to empower micro-entrepreneurs and women farmers. With the support of the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and the Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs), a group of ketupat operators in Abi now owns a commercial kitchen complete with a freezing machine and a low-temperature storage space.
According to the report, projects such as the one in Kampung Abi are expected to serve as a model for other districts that want to develop high-value-added traditional food-based industries.
Today, ABY Food Enterprise, based in Kampung Abi, has become a well-known brand throughout Malaysia. Through its official page on Facebook, the company wrote:
"We have been operating for more than 10 years and have a factory in Abi, Perlis. Our Ketupat Palas is made with real coconut milk, without preservatives, guaranteed to be fresh and halal."
ABY Food not only sells ketupat palas but also expands its product line to grilled glutinous rice, frozen nasi lemak and other traditional cakes. Their products can be found in supermarkets in Perlis, Kedah, and Penang and have even penetrated the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur markets.
Another post on the local Perlis Local Products Facebook group mentioned that demand increased rapidly ahead of Ramadan, with customers from overseas bringing home frozen ketupat palas as souvenirs.
This story was even raised in a video by Berita Harian, which featured a married couple from Perlis who worked on ketupat palas to penetrate the international market. In the interview, the couple emphasized the importance of maintaining authentic flavors and traditional processes, even though they are now mass-producing.
They say that the key to success is "not sacrificing the spirit of kerupat spirit", namely patience, uniformity, and the use of natural ingredients. Even though modern freezing machines are used, all the processes of weaving palas leaves are still done by hand, because the shape of the weaving determines the durability and beauty of the result.
Behind the success story of Kampung Abi, there is a deeper narrative: about women, collective work, and local economic resilience. According to a social study by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), projects such as the frozen ketupat palas show how rural women can create sustainable microeconomic models without having to leave their hometowns.
This model provides space for housewives to earn an income, innovate, and still maintain traditional values.
"Ketupat palas is not just food. It is a symbol of the creativity of northern Malay women who do not want to lose to time," said one of the UniMAP academics as quoted by The Malaysian Reserve.
However, not all trips are seamless. Some entrepreneurs admitted to facing challenges in terms of rising raw material costs and limited trained workforce. Palas leaves, for example, are not easy to get during the long rainy season. In addition, freezing machines require quite high electricity costs, making profit margins narrower for small entrepreneurs.
To address this, the Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) launched assistance in the form of packaging and digital marketing equipment for traditional food small entrepreneurs in Perlis, as reported by Astro Awani.
The move is expected to help them compete in e-commerce marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada, where many traditional food products are now looking for new spaces.
There is irreplaceable warmth in a ketupat palas with the aroma of coconut milk, fragrant palas leaves, and the soft texture of glutinous rice after boiling. But now, in the hands of the people of Abi Village, that warmth has also transformed into a modern economic opportunity.
From fast-freezing technology to digital marketing, they show that ancestral heritage is not to be kept in a kitchen museum, but to be kept alive and adapted.
An official from FAMA Perlis told Utusan Malaysia:
"Kampung Abi has proven that tradition can be an industry. What is needed is support, innovation, and the passion to continue believing in one's own values."
Now, in every fold of palas leaves from Kampung Abi, there is not only glutinous rice and coconut milk, but also courage and confidence. When many other villages lost their young people to the city, the people of Abi chose to survive not with nostalgia, but with innovation. They make ketupat not just food, but a small manifesto about self-sufficiency.
From the village kitchen to the inclusion in the State Budget document, this story confirms one thing: the future does not always have to be built from advanced technology or large industries. Sometimes, the future can be born from a palm leaf formed with love, tied with faith, and frozen to give life to hope.
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