Gov't pushes 1Malaysia products into petrol stations

Despite allegations by the opposition that 1Malaysia products are higher priced and of lower quality, the government has beefed up its efforts to push such products into the petrol station retail market, further threatening the survival of traditional grocery stores.

It is learnt that Petronas Dagangan Berhad, the domestic marketing arm of national oil and gas company Petronas, had sent out an internal circular to all operators of Kedai Mesra, the convenience stores in Petronas petrol stations, to pitch the idea.

The confidential circular that was sighted by Malaysiakini encourages the operators to attend a special briefing this morning held “in line with the government’s aspirations to expand the distribution of 1Malaysia label products to petrol stations network”.

The briefing by Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad, the operator that markets 1Malaysia products and runs Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), was held at its headquarters at Subang Jaya.

Enquiries made to the headquarters this morning confirmed the briefing.

“Business partners (Kedai Mesra operators) are encouraged to attend the briefing, and if interested to sell the products in Kedai Mesra, you can register with Mydin,” read the circular signed by Firdaus Rozalli, senior manager, business partner management section, Petronas Dagangan.

Attached with the circular was a list of 45 1Malaysia products available for Kedai Mesra including rice, creamer, ghee, sugar, chili sauce, canned sardines, fruit jams, chocolate malt drinks, detergents and diapers.

The list also stated the cost, retail price and margin for Kedai Mesra operators for each product.

All the products are also subjected to two percent royalty charge of the retail price for Petronas Dagangan Berhad.

KR1M was mooted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in June to tackle the escalating cost of living, and introduced 250 1Malaysia products that were claimed to be 40 percent cheaper than other sundries in the market.

‘Savings claim an exaggeration’

However, Pakatan Rakyat has argued that the the savings claim was an exaggeration to mislead the people because while there were some products that were indeed cheaper in the KR1M shops, they were not as cheap as touted.

The allegation was then denied by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who stressed that the comparison should be apple-to-apple.

He said the allegation was politically motivated to destroy the government’s initiative which has been proven to benefit the people.

Then the opposition responded with a more staggering allegation, claiming that fresh milk sold at the KR1M were allegedly tainted withE Coli.

They also charged that lab tests showed the quality of 1Malaysia products is substandard and infringed the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985.

Besides the opposition, KR1M also face strong objections from owners of traditional sundry shops, who are already struggling for survival after the rise of hypermarkets.