Suriati Ghazali & Narimah Samat School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia

1. PATTERN OF USE AND RELIANCE ON KEDAI RAKYAT 1MALAYSIA AND MENU RAKYAT 1MALAYSIA AMONG RURAL POPULATION OF KELANTAN SuriatiGhazali & NarimahSamat School of Humanities UniversitiSains Malaysia PulauPinang, Malaysia suriati@usm.my; narimah@usm.my

2. Introduction • Alleviating poverty has become one of the national agendas for many countries worldwide. • The United Nations has started to address poverty issues and formulated the Millennium Declaration since 1988 where eradicating poverty and hunger has become one of the targets in the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) • Malaysia reported to have been succeeding in achieving the MDGs well before 2015, in which, the incidents of poverty had been declining from 52.4% in 1970 to 12.4 % in 1992, 3.8% in 2009 and 2012 respectively • The incident of poverty is higher in rural areas. In 2012, poverty rate in rural areas is 3.4%, while in urban areas is 1.0% • Higher incidence of poverty in rural areas show the need for a more comprehensive plan to help rural people cope with the escalating cost of living.

3. Due to increases in the prices of basic goods and services, the Malaysian Government recognized the need for a more focused approach to help ease the peoples’ concerns over the rising cost of living, and thus saw the introduction of the Addressing the Rising Cost Of Living NKRA (COL NKRA) in July 2011. (NKRA – National Key Result Areas) • The COL NKRA has implemented a number of initiatives that hope to ensure prices remain manageable, and some key wins include the introduction of the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia (MR1M) and Klinik 1Malaysia (K1M) programmes.

4. These programmes aim to deliver essential goods and services such as groceries, healthcare and food at a price that is affordable to all layers of the population. • Prices of 1Malaysia goods, which are generally 20% to 30% cheaper for comparable goods at conventional stores, should help Malaysians to cope with the rising cost of living. • The COL NKRA is part of the GTP’s effort to build a more equitable platform for all Malaysians by reducing the cost of living through the delivery of targeted aids and providing reasonably priced goods and services.

5. Since its launch in 2011, Malaysia now has a total of 125 Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia all over the country. • For Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia, in 2014, a total of 4,000 food operators participated in the programme which provides breakfast and lunch at the affordable price of RM2 and RM4 respectively in Peninsular Malaysia, and RM2.50 and RM5 in Sabah and Sarawak.

6. Background of the study • The development in any country shall provide the opportunity to all segment of population to enjoy and participate in the economic activities enjoyed by others • Various strategies were planned to ensure nobody are excluded from having access to basic necessities such as food. • In reducing the burden of the rural poor and low income population towards reaching food necessities, accessibility to healthy and cheap food items was concerned (Clarke et al., 2002; Samat et al., 2012). • One way of ensuring healthy and cheap food items could easily be accessible to poor and low income population, community shop or cheap grocery store were introduced (Wrigley, 2002; Latham, 2013; Smithers, 2013).

7. Literature review • The poor especially those live rural areas have relatively poor access to food retailers that sell fresh or nutritional produce (Donkin et al 2000; Clarke et al., 2002; Apparicio et al., 2007). • There is an inequality in the access to healthy food and food stores according to neighborhood social status and racial segregation (Wrigley, 2002). • Large numbers of supermarkets and gas stations with convenience stores are located in wealthier neighborhoods compared to the poorest neighborhoods (Moorland et al (2002). • The poor and minority communities may not have equal access to the supermarkets, which offers a wide variety of healthy foods choices at lower prices as compared to those available to the nonminority and wealthy communities (Donkin et al., 2000; Wrigley, 2002).

8. Healthy foods need to be accessible , affordable and located near low-income population (Sharkey, 2009; Samat et al 2012). • In low-income and rural areas, physical access to affordable food stores can be limited as retailers focus on location with good road access. • Local shops are important to reduce dependence on transport, however; where local shops exist, they tend to be more expensive compared to supermarkets. • Many households with low-incomes live in places where local shopping facilities and transport networks are limited (Donkin et al., 2000; Clarke et al., 2002), such as in rural areas. • Income has a direct impact on the affordability and accessibility to food retailers. Low-income shoppers usually consider a number of factors including quantity, price and quality in selecting food products (Wrigley, 2002).

9. Malaysian case • KR1M is a shop operating on a mini market format, which provides various basic necessities at low prices. • The quality of goods will not be compromised despite the items being sold at affordable prices. • KR1M will serve the same consumer segment as hypermarkets do, but with emphasis on consumers with basic essential needs. • Most of the items sold at KR1M such as rice, cooking oil, milk powder and diapers are packed with the logo of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia at cheaper price • Currently, there are assortments of almost 350 KR1M grocery items, and the list are expected to increase over time • Although this shop has been launched for several years now, not many studies have investigated whether it has reached targeted population, in this case the low income rural population.

10. Source: Malaysia Information Department, 2011

13. Credit: fancheksaat.blogspot.com

14. The Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia offers food packages at reasonable prices for breakfast and lunch. • In Peninsular Malaysia, a package of breakfast cost RM2.00, meanwhile for a package of lunch is RM4.00. For Sabah and Sarawak, the price is slightly higher due to the higher cost of living in these states compared to Peninsular Malaysia. (RM2.50 for breakfast, and RM5.00 for lunch) • Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia programme is operated on a voluntary basis, in which all restaurant owners may engage in this programme.

15. The study conducted in Kelantan State, Malaysia , aimed at investigating the effectiveness of this strategy in reaching targeted population. • Data were gathered via survey and interview on shoppers at the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and eaters at Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia • We would like to find out whether the low-income residents in rural areas of Kelantan get their everyday groceries at this KR1M, and eat at the MR1M premises; and the extent to which KR1M and MR1M reach the target group.

16. Methodology • In order to assess the extent which Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) and Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia (MR1M) are used, and benefited to the rural population, Jajahan Tanah Merah in Kelantan, Malaysia was purposely selected • Jajahan Tanah Merah is mainly rural in characteristics, covers the area of 86,760.00 hectares in Kelantan State, with Bandar Tanah Merah serving as the only a town centre in the district. • In Jajahan Tanah Merah, there are: • 1 Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, located nearby Bandar Tanah Merah • 31 food premises offering Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia - scattered in Bandar Tanah Merah and its surrounding area, particularly on strategic locations nearby bus and taxi stations.

17. 40 local peoples in villages of Jajahan Tanah Merah, were chosen using simple random and convenient sampling. • Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, KR1M (20 respondents) and • Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia, MR1M (20 respondents ) Using a set of short questionnaire, respondents were asked to write details on the related subject, including their spending at, and perception on, KR1M and MR1M located in Jajahan Tanah Merah. Descriptive analysis using cross tabulation were used in analyzing the data. Respondents’ notes written in the questionaire will aslo be revealed in order to show the genuine perception of respondents on the matter studied.

18. Jajahan Tanah Merah

19. Kedai 1Malaysia: Result & Discussion

20. Frequency and pattern of use • 40% of the respondents studied (8 persons) travel long distance of more than 10 km to shop at KR1M. • Reasons: to take advantage of the cheaper daily needs offered by KR1M. KR1M, 5 respondents said that they regularly shop at KR1M once a week, 3 respondents shop once a month. • Reasons: the price of goods are lower than other grocery stores nearby; KR1M sells varieties of food and other basic needs. For once a week shoppers: - Usually buy food and household items for a week stock • spend around RM50-100 every shopping. • The most frequent items bought; rice, milk, formula milk, sugar, flour, • 3 are foodsellers who own a food stall, earn more than RM3000 monthly • others are a service worker and a factory worker, earn between RM500-RM1000 monthly.

21. The rest of the shoppers who travel less than 10 km to KR1M also agreed that the price of goods are cheaper at KR1M compared to other stores. • The goods bought are varieties of food and daily necessities. • The majority of them spend between RM50-RM100 every shopping. • Most of the respondents do their shopping at KR1M once a week. • The most frequent comments given by respondents on their reason for shopping at KR1M are: (1) the price of 1Malaysia goods are cheaper than other brands sold by other shops, (2) there are a large varieties of daily necessities sold at te KR1M store, and (3) the store itself is convenient because it is larger in size, clean and tidy, and air-conditioned.

22. Pattern of shopping by low income earners • Low-income earner, (RM500-1000 monthly) shop less – once a month or less • The spending also small at every shopping (RM • the other said that she rarely shops there (less than once a month), with spending less than RM50 every shopping. • The distance does not affect the frequency of visiting KR1M • The poor/low income in near distance rarely shop at KR1M because they cannot pay in cash • Thus to some residents, they would prefer to shop at a local store that are able to provide them credit/loans, in which they can pay back when they have money or after a pay day (see also Bridges and Disney, 2004).

23. KR1M benefitted the medium-income and low-medium income households more than the low-income and poor households. • the poor and low-income groups are being marginalised due to two factors: - their inability to travel to the shop that located far away from their homes; - and their inability to pay in cash. According to a local store operator : “To some who has little money to pay, they would prefer to shop at local stores operated by us (friends, relatives or neighbours) because we allow them to make loans and pay later. They pay me every month when they get money” (Grocery shop owner, female, 50s).

24. Result & Discussion: Menu 1Malaysia

25. Conclusion & Implication • Most customers of Menu 1Malaysia travel in short distance to the premises, which is 1 kilometre and shorter (60 percent). • Respondents’ choice to eat at MR1M is not necessarily related to their income. • 20% of the customers earn monthly income of RM1000 and lower. • 40% respondents earn between RM1000-RM3000 monthly. • There are also customers with income higher than RM5000 monthly enjoy cheap quality food at Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia premises. • The majority of respondents reported that they have breakfast or lunch, or both, at Menu 1Malaysia premises almost every day (18 respondents or 90%).

26. Reasons • strategic location of the premises (near to their homes or workplace), • proximity to the main road; • cheap food but good at taste, and • hospitality from the food stall/restaurant owner, whom they have already known for many years. Respondents notes: “Reasonable price and the hospitality of the owner” (Male respondent, 62, a pensioner). “the food is cheap and tasty, and the owner is very kind” (Male respondent, 70, a carpenter); and “cheap and tasty” (Male respondent, 43, a business person) “Menu 1Malaysia helps the low income people to get good but cheap breakfast and lunch” (Male, 59, self-employed) and “Cheap good food that are affordable to low income rural people” (Female, 40, office worker).

27. Residents of Jajahan Tanah Merah particularly those who reside near the MR1M premises are the main beneficiaries of MR1M. • Customers are willing to accept MR1M, mainly because the menu are offered by established foodsellers that already have regular customers. • In this way, MR1M programme can be regarded as successful in that it is well accepted by the public. • However, similar to KR1M, low income and poor people in remote areas may not be able to take advantage of the opportunity for cheap food from MR1M, since it is only availabe at areas with larger population and in small town • MR1M is able to reach a fifth of the target population (the poor and low-income), which means that it is still far from fulfilling their objective in helping the poor to cope with the rising cost of living.

28. Conclusions & Implication • The location of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) and Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia (MR1M) play an important role in ensuring the accessibility of low- and middle income rural population to cheap and healthy food, and other daily necessities. • This study conclude that the beneficiaries of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia so far are those who live in the near proximity to the shop, and particularly, those of medium income group. • Shortcomings of KR1M and MR1M are also identified, particularly regarding their inability to reach the poor and low-income people in remote areas. • This study contributes to knowledge on the effectiveness and challenges faced by such shops and services in benefitting low-income rural residents. • Therefore this study supports improvements by authorities in order to provide better and equal services for the rural population.

29. Even though measures are taken to provide opportunity for low income group to access to healthy food at cheaper prices at Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia, however, only a fifth of the low-income rural people manage to take this opportunity. • The location of 1Malaysia products and services in the town and semi-rural areas benefitted only some groups. • Therefore, it is considered that the distribution of 1Malaysia shops and food premises are still spatially unequal. • Availability of cash is crucial for food exchange, therefore without cash, the gap between the middle income group and the poor/low income is widening. • With better access to stores and food premises that provide cheap but healthy food designed to meet the requirement of poor and low-income rural people, it is hoped that the future of poor and low-income rural residents in Malaysia will be secured.

30. Thank youWe thanked Research University Team Grant (1001/PHUMANITI/856002), titled “Spatial Inequality: Framing Phenomena, formulating strategies for funding this research. Presented by Associate Professor Dr SuriatiGhazali School of Humanities UniversitiSains Malaysia