I read with great interest, the on going debate on the issue of hypermarket operating hours. The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs has purportedly issued a directive to all local councils to ensure that hypermarkets do not operate beyond the 10am to 10pm time frame and I believe that this will affect everybody.
I think grocery shopping is a matter of what suits a person’s timing and lifestyle. Therefore the question of convenience is the focal point here. Research has shown that amongst the Malaysian population, almost 80 percent of men and 50 percent of women work. Therefore they must be given the luxury of time to carry out their daily chores and one of the most important tasks is grocery shopping.
Extended operating hours may also be important to businesses as they may only reach stores outside their own business hours. Restriction on operating hours will also surely undermine efforts by small businesses to stock up at reasonable prices and this is definitely unfair to them.
While being surprised by consumer groups speaking on behalf of businesses, I fail to understand the views put forward by them. The common line used when commenting on this issue is that extended operating hours will affect small traders.
Has there been any research carried out by these consumer groups which has lead to the confirmation of the above suggestion? If the answer is yes, it is time that these results are made available for the benefit of all. If research has not been carried out, then I think consumer groups should stop making such sweeping statements.
I have personally seen small traders mushrooming in an area with a hypermarket. Traffic in the area increased, and along with this, so did economic activity. Property value also shot up. How then can one say that small traders are adversely affected by hypermarkets? Certain things are still best purchased at the wet market and smaller shops.
On the issue of foreign labor being employed, I am sure that the ministry can formulate guidelines to limit the number of foreigners being employed. At the end of the day, it all depends on the policies formulated by the government.
It is also wrong to say that Bumiputera businesses are losing out. I am sure that the concerned ministry would have set requirements that these hypermarkets support local SMEs.
I often read in the media about the efforts made by hypermarkets in charting programs to help SMEs. Have the SMEs complained about this? On the contrary, extended operating hours would definitely be beneficial rather that detrimental to SMEs as they would have to produce more products to fill shelves.
The prime minister, after chairing an Economic Council meeting on Sept 23 said that the services sector, which represents 45 percent of the economy, would be liberalised. However, I don’t think the directive to limit the business hours of hypermarkets complements the prime minister's efforts.
I am not an economist, but I understand that Malaysia is trying to attract foreign investors into the country. The current directive will definitely hinder such efforts.
I therefore suggest that the ministry re-visits this directive and if possible, allow hypermarkets to operate on extended hours for the benefit of Malaysian consumers and also the economy.
No. 48, Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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