PUTRAJAYA: With Hari Raya Aidilfitri around the corner, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob took time off to accompany 54 orphans and asnaf children under his care to shop for new sets of clothes at a mall here.

       He brought the group of children to pick their own Raya outfits and shoes starting from 9.30am.

       Speaking to reporters later, Ismail Sabri said the shopping trip was his annual routine with the orphans, who have also become his “adopted children”, ahead of the festive celebration.

       “I just want to make them happy ahead of celebrating Hari Raya.

       “Although we rarely see each other, I always make it a point to see them at least once a year.

       “If I’m holding a breaking of fast event, I will surely invite them,” he said.

       Nur Auni Syafia Jefri Mohd Zain, 11, said she was so excited to go shopping for Raya outfits with “Atuk”.

       “Ibu (her guardian) told me that Atuk will take me and my sister (Nur Syamimi, 12) shopping today. I woke up at 6am, very excited to meet him,” she said.

       Nur Auni and Nur Syamimi are two of the four children of Jefri Mohd Zain and Noorsalawati Ibrahim, who were killed in an accident involving a lorry in Cheras in 2014.

       Siblings Nur Firuza Amira Fairuz Nizam, 13, and Nur Firuza Aqilah, 10, also took the opportunity to present “Atuk” with their homemade Raya cookies.

       “We brought homemade Raya cookies for Atuk. We made the chocolate moist (cake) and Cadbury tart last night,” said the siblings, whose parents Fairuz Nizam Husain and Nova Safitri Azhari were also killed in a road accident in 2015.

       “Atuk has not forgotten us. I wish him good health and success in this world and the hereafter,” Nur Firuza Amira said. — Bernama