Pekan Rabu, Alor Setar

Pekan Rabu is a local bazaar in Alor Setar, Kedah. It is located in the heart of the city. The two-storey complex houses over four hundred traders selling local products from textile and clothing to local delicacies such as dodol.

The name means "Wednesday Market" because it began as a weekly market in the early part of the 20th century. It was started at the initiative of Tunku Yaakob, a local prince, who established a weekly market at Tanjung Chali, between Pekan Cina and Pengkalan Kapal.

The weekly Pekan Rabu was such a success with the locals that it evolved into a daily market. In 1932, the state government relocated Pekan Rabu to its present site. At that time, it was just a collection of makeshift structures.

Times were hard during the Japanese Occupation. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister, was then a young man in Alor Setar. His studies interrupted by the war, he was forced to make a living as a fruit seller at Pekan Rabu. Those years as a seller at Pekan Rabu was not forgotten, and he continued to visit Pekan Rabu over the years.

In 1975, a new market structure was erected at a cost of RM3.2 million. The traders moved in on 25 February, 1978. It underwent renovation at a cost of RM6.5 million in 1995. Lately there were plans to further expand on Pekan Rabu but nothing has yet materialised.

Pekan Rabu is a regular Malay bazaar. For visitors and tourists, it is an interesting place to look at the local products and stalls.

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