KEDAI 1 MALAYSIA

The truth is now revealed. A total of 13 food products sold at Kedai 1 Malaysia outlet did not comply with the Food Regulation 1985. The Health Ministry has ordered the manufacturers of the products to conduct random laboratory test on all 250 food items sold at Kedai I Malaysia.

The Kedai 1 Malaysia was launched by PM Najib in June this year whose purpose was to provide cheaper grocery items for the rakyat at a time when cost of such items has spiraled to unimaginable levels. When launching the first Kedai 1 Malaysia at Kelana Jaya LRT Station, PM Najib said, “It is (1 Malaysia) not ceremonial, rhetoric or something distant. It has moved forward to offering the people products and services that meet their needs”. The products sold at Kedai 1 Malaysia were to be priced at 30% to 40% lower than market prices and to be operated by Mydin Mohammad Holding Bhd.

Malaysians consumers has once again been hoodwinked by unscrupulous food manufacturers and retailers into believing that the grocery items sold at Kedai 1 Malaysia are of fine consumable quality and reasonably cheaper. It was in early November when opposition parliamentarian Nurrul Izzah and Tony Phua conducted tests on some canned food items and found that the food content did not meet the specification labeled on the can. When a complaint was launched, the initial reaction by the shop owner was to deny (already an embedded culture among Malaysians) this despite providing visible proof. The same goes for the authorities who reacted likewise, supposedly thinking that this is another opposition ploy to discredit the government.

While Malaysians welcomed the government’s effort to provide the rakyat with cheaper food, the health authorities obviously wasn’t too concern about the quality of the food. It surely does not require the opposition parliamentarians to do the check to ensure that the food sold a Kedai 1 Malaysia meets the health and safety specifications; rather it is the responsibility of the health authorities. Obviously the health authorities have failed the rakyat this time and had unduly caused health concern to the rakyat, besides having short changed them.

Now, getting at what PM Najib had said at the launch of the first Kedai 1 Malaysia, it is obvious now that the concept of Kedai 1 Malaysia is mere rhetoric; not an honest and sincere initiative of providing the rakyat with cheaper and good quality grocery products, but a business concern where profit making is utmost. And to the owner of Kedai 1 Malaysia, I say that it is a crime to sell and feed the rakyat with food that do not meet the health and safety standards, and it is even worse when the content is short changed.

I just wonder if any of our minister’s families ever patronized Kedai 1 Malaysia. If they haven’t, why don’t they try?

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION