WITH over 10,000 stores nationwide serving as merchant partners for the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (Sara) initiative, the government is now looking at reviewing the requirement to allow smaller traders and grocery stores to be involved, says Liew Chin Tong.
“The government will review the requirements to become a Sara merchant partner to ensure that local grocery stores and small traders are also directly involved.
“This is in line with the Prime Minister’s New Year address on Jan 5, which aims to include an additional 10,000 small grocery stores this year,” the Deputy Finance Minister told the Dewan Rakyat.
Liew said participating stores are required to meet specific criteria including selling at least seven basic food items such as rice, milk, flour, cooking oil, canned goods from 14 specified categories, having a valid Companies Commission of Malaysia registration, holding a Business Premises Licence, having a Tax Identification Number and adopting a Point of Sale system.
“The list of supermarkets and grocery stores is not final. Since the Prime Minister’s announcement regarding the Sara programme, the number has continued to grow.
“Numerous applications have been received to date and each one will be processed according to the fixed procedures,” he said.
Liew also said the government strives to expedite each application in line with the two-week approval period after the complete documentation is received.
“We will continue to monitor the current situation to ensure that government assistance programmes are continuously delivered to those in need in addressing the challenges of the cost of living,” he said.
The deputy minister said the government has allocated RM15bil for the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah and Sara programmes this year, compared to RM8bil in 2022.
The number of participating stores had grown to 10,447 from 700 stores in 2024, Liew said, adding that the number will continue to grow over time.
“These include supermarkets, grocery stores, cooperative stores and mini-markets located in urban, rural and interior areas to ensure that more recipients have easy access.
“In Sarawak alone, 1,096 premises have been registered as Sara merchant partners,” he said in response to a question from Oscar Ling (PH-Sibu) on why the approval process for the MyKasih Store Initiative is still taking an excessively long time.
