The Malaysian Insight

A PEOPLE’s bookshop with affordable books – that was what Prime Minister Najib Razak had envisioned Kedai Buku 1Malaysia (KB1M) or 1Malaysia Bookstore when it was launched in September 2012.

But five years after the flagship store in Pudu Sentral, there is hardly any signs that KB1M ever existed at the UTC, as some tenants told The Malaysian Insight that the bookstore had closed down for quite some time now.

“I can’t remember when it was closed down, but I think it has been more than a year,” a tenant who runs a tailoring business said, pointing out the vacant retail space in front of his shop, where KB1M once sat.

KB1M is now in trouble following a suit by local independent publisher Fixi, who is taking the company to court over its failure to pay arrears of more than RM100,000 from the sale of Fixi books.

Another independent publisher, Lejen Press also faces the same predicament, as KB1M owed them RM70,510.59.

“After suspecting something has gone amiss, we decided to stop supplying our books. The last delivery order was March last year,” founder and managing director of Lejen Press Muhammad Aisamuddin Md Asri told The Malaysian Insight.

Aisamuddin, better known as Aisa Linglung, said despite the good initiative introduced to inculcate a reading habit among Malaysians, the government has to step in to solve the problems.

“The government or whoever involved has to help KB1M, either through relaunching of the product as KB1M 2.0 or help the existing one by settling all its debts.

“But I don’t think they will do another KB1M like the KR1M 2.0, because the government didn’t include it in Budget 2018.

“And even if they did come up with KB1M 2.0, I don’t think many publishers will want to collaborate with them again due to the current problems,” he said, referring to the government’s plan to relaunch Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) as KR1M 2.0.

KR1M, which was mooted by Najib in June 2011, was aimed at reducing the people’s burden and well as to help market products by local operators of Small and Medium Enterprises.

“I still remember that KB1M would give 15% discount to books it sold, for instance our books, the retail price might be around RM20, but KB1M sold it at RM17.

“But I don’t know whether they have taken into account the profit margin, operational costs and other things because now when something like this happens, people will relate the problem to the government as the initiative was placed under the 1Malaysia brand,” Aisa said, adding that the company had supplied books for KB1M when it first opened.

A check on the 1Malaysia website, however, revealed that KB1M was not listed as one of the initiatives under the 1Malaysia brand.

Other products like the 1Malaysia Student Discount Card (KADS1M), 1Malaysia People’s Textile Shop (KKR1M), 1Malaysia Clinic (K1M), 1Malaysia People’s Shop (KR1M), 1Malaysia Mobile Clinic (KB1M) and 1Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1M) were all listed on the website.

Meanwhile, KB1M’s website is under maintenance and it is learnt that Malaysian Institute of Translation and Books (ITBM) has taken over management of KB1M.

Fixi’s distribution manager Nik Adam Ahmad Nik Rasdee said some of the KB1M staff who usually dealt with Fixi have stopped contacting them.

“We do not know who is the official management of KB1M. What we know is that they have moved their HQ to Wangsa Maju from Petaling Jaya. Our lawyer notified us when we wanted to send the letter of demand,” Nik Adam said, adding that the letter was ignored by KB1M Sdn Bhd.

“We have stopped supplying our books since May this year,” he added.

A source from the industry, meanwhile, said KB1M was jointly operated by ITBM and one of Malaysia’s famous book stores.

“But the last time we heard, the company has withdrawn from the collaboration,” the source said.

According to a media report dated April 2016, KB1M had five branches nationwide at that time – Wangsa Maju, UTC Perak, UTC Kuantan, UTC Alor Star and Gong Badak.

A check by The Malaysian Insight at KB1M in Wangsa Maju found that the bookstore is located next to ITBM headquarters, sharing the same building.

The bookstore, however, only sells books published by ITBM, according to a staff.

“This was a KB1M store previously but it’s in the process of changing the management. The signage outside is just an old one,” the staff said.

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh also informed The Malaysian Insight that KB1M store in Kuantan had closed down.

The Malaysian Insight’s attempts to get a response from ITBM managing director Mohd Khair Ngadiron on the state of KB1M nationwide were futile, but Mohd Khair did respond to a query on the lawsuit filed by Fixi, saying it was not appropriate to comment as the case was now a court matter. – December 14, 2017.