Modern Management Science & Engineering

ISSN 2052-2576 (Online)

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2016
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/mmse

Public Perception on Existing Building and Facilities at Public

Market in Northern Region of Malaysia
Md Sayuti Ishak1 & Nur Ain Che Aziz1*
1
School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
*
Nur Ain Che Aziz, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Public market have been known for many centuries. They have been an important place and source of
daily needs, commence and social part for over 6000 years ago. From community to another
community public markets expands to become more function effectively as they exist because they serve
the needs, while some public markets has changed in meaning over time and still different from place
to place. Malaysia is one of the developing country, as it should not be ignored to plan a good building
construction as well as the facilities management at public markets. The planning of building and
facilities management must be maintain to ensure that the surrounding of the buildings is always in a
good quality, safe and healthy to all occupants or visitors of the buildings. To ensure that the facilities
and the existing building at public markets operated smoothly, all the party involved must be aware
and play the important role to sustain the characteristics of the facilities. Hence, this research believes
that, with the improvement of facilities can be completely transformed into viable and social interactive
places.
Keywords
facilities, public market, building infrastructure, faulty design, daily needs

1. Introduction
Public markets are expected to continue to serve as one of the major sources of fresh food provisions
and goods for the general public in the years to come and it is should be kept clean and hygienic to
provide a decent and comfortable shopping environment accessible to patrons which is it may not be
necessary for public markets to be upgraded to unduly upmarket shopping venues (Weng, 2013).
According to Morales (2011) marketplaces is a location where vendors gather periodically to sell
merchandise, indoors or out, have been central to historical political, economic and social prospects for
people and places across the nation. It was traditionally functioned as the major nodes of urban
commerce and played an important role in the urban food system. People nowadays are acting on the
concern by purposely seeking fresh, high quality and environment-friendly food, especially food that is
grown locally (Tong, 2012). Market places are not just a setting for commercial activities, but it also
play an important role in food systems, place making and community economic development. A city
without a market place might function, but it lacks the platform where layers of the community could
gather and socialize where tangible and intangible culture could be felt in its sense of place
(Qamaruz-Zaman, 2014). From day to day public market is getting develop from many aspects, for
example in term of structure design itself and also increasing of the facilities provided. Increasing in
the industry sector and also increase in the number of population has cause to the new phase of
residential area and factory, as well as Malaysia is one of the developing countries. Hem Sommerstad
(2013) stated that, at Kviberg’s market the sections was divided into two, left and right and both of
them were surrounding with corridor and stalls. An organized planning of the layout gave an ease

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experience for the user at the public market. So in the hasty stream of building construction, the
facilities management planning should not be ignored. The planning of building and facilities
management before, during and after a building construct must be parallel to maintain the initial
condition of the building and to make sure the surrounding of the building is always in good quality, safe
and healthy to all occupants or visitors of the building.
1.1 Problem Statement
An organized layout and the building structures itself is the aspects for a good physical planning of public
market. A disorganized layout would become a difficulty for the local society to walk through the retail
space while getting their daily needs. These happen because of there is not enough space for the sellers to
put their items and one easy way is to put their belongings on the floor nearby. Some of the public market
structures is built up from wooden. Year by year it will become deteriorate. This condition is very risky to
the local society at the public market. The maintainability aspect at the design stage is often ignored and
this has contributed to future problems when implementing maintenance work. This happens when the
aesthetics value has become more important in the design of asset, besides the design factor, site
selection, apparatus, tools or facilities to maintain the asset are hard to obtain or very costly (Femi, 2014).
There was also listed that traffic congestion is a displease problem felt by residents of largest urban areas
as traffic issue is also a problem at the public market, as there was no enough space for the seller to
deliver their goods. All the delivering process is in action beside the road way and at the end of that it will
affect the traffic. On top of that, some space of the roadway is also being used for some activities like
garage sale. These activity is affected the traffic flow at the public market area (Davis et al., 2010).
Parking is essential component of the transportation system. Parking issue affects the ease of reaching
destinations and the overall accessibility (Ibrahim, 2011). So, if the parking problem at the public
market is in a long term, this will make the situation worst. This issue need to be overcome so that the
local society can park their car in upon to get their daily needs. According to Ibrahim (2011), the
problem of long term parking would make the situation worst. In an attempt to reduce or remove the
number of parking or implement a new parking program or policy, municipality should be willing to
offer stakeholders a variety of options such as the introduction of short, medium and long term
planning such as regular parking price hikes or introducing new transit services. Ekomadyo and
Hidayatsyah (2012) stated that the accessibility and the external circulation system at the public market
must be clear, efficient and not giving a congestion at the surrounding at all. The parking area should
be able to accommodate the vehicles of the people at the market. He said that the parking area must be
near to the main entrance to give a comfort for the public people enter the market.
1.2 Objectives
The objectives of this research are listed below:
1) To determine the characteristics of facilities at the public market;
2) To determine the priority of characteristics of the facilities at the public market;
3) To suggest the improvements of public market facilities to the local authorities.

2. Methodology
This study focused on people perception towards the characteristics of facilities at public market. The
surveying was conducted at the public market in the northern region of Malaysia which is Penang
Island, Kedah and Perak. The number of respondents of each location is different according to the
population in each state of northern region of Malaysia. The surveying was done by distributing
questionnaire for the public people at public market. 380 respondents were targeted for this study. For

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Penang Island, the location is at Bayan Baru and Sri Penanti with 44 and 81 respondents while in
Kedah the location is at Sungai Petani and Kulim with 79 and 64 respondents respectively, the rest is in
Perak state with 39 respondents at Parit Buntar and 73 respondents at Kamunting.

3. Result
The analysis of data were conducted using Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (V20). A
few analyses were done such as statistical analysis which includes descriptive statistics, independent
samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. For this study, 380 sets of
questionnaire consists of two section which is:
i. Demographics data;
ii. Perception on facilities characteristics at public market.
In this research, the pilot study were conducted to determine the suitability of the questionnaire and the
validity and reliability of the variables will be known. According to Leon (2010), pilot study was
conducted to examine the feasibility of an approach to be used in a large scale study. A total of 30
respondents were chosen randomly at Parit Buntar Public Market which is one of the most crowd
market in northern region. Table 1 shows the consistency of Cronbach’s Alpha. It was found that the
questionnaire is highly reliable since the value of Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.89 which is indicate a good
level of internal consistency, considered as low-stakes testing internal consistency. Thus it is
considered acceptable (Sekaran, 2010).

Table 1. Consistency of Cronbach’s Alpha

Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency
α ≥ 0.9 Excellent (High-Stakes testing)
0.7 ≤ α ≤ 0.9 Good (Low-Stakes testing)
0.6 ≤ α ≤ 0.7 Acceptable
0.5 ≤ α ≤ 0.6 Poor
α < 0.5 Unacceptable

3.1 Frequency Analysis Result of Demographic Data

The first section of questionnaire is demographic data. This section provide the general information
about the respondents regarding to gender, age, race, religious, resident status, live period at the
resident area, occupation, household income and frequency to the public market. Frequency statistics
for the gender, age category and household income was analyzed. Figure 1 shows the gender
composition was predominantly females with 52% and males with 48% from 380 respondents.
Respondents whose age below 29 years old is the majority that came to the public market with 46%,
followed by respondents between 30-49 years old with 39% and the last one is above 50 years old with
15% as shown in Figure 2 while Figure 3 mention about the household income for 380 respondents.
Figure 4 shows the household income of the respondents below RM 2,000 is 37%, between RM 2,000
to RM 3,999 is 51%, and lastly above RM 4,000 which is 12%.

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Figure 1.. Frequency of

o Gender

Figure 2. Frrequency of Age

A Categoryy

Fiigure 3. Freq
quency of Hou
usehold Incom
me

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3.2 Comparison
C a
among Six Loccation
Therre are four parrts in this quesstionnaire whiich are:
i. Current View
w at Parking Area,
A
ii. Current View
w in Public Market,
M
iii. Facilities Neeeded at the Puublic Market,
iv. Action and Awareness.
A
The mean of eachh variables among six locatiions on publicc market in northern region of Malaysia which
w
weree Parit Buntarr, Kamunting,, Bayan Baru, Sri Penanti, Sungai Petanni and Kulim were analyzeed by
usingg SPSS. Resppondents at Kulim
K Public Market
M most concern on cuurrent view aat parking areaa and
someewhat concernn on current view
v in public market itself among the sixx locations wiith mean 3.65,, 3.70
and 4.05 respectivvely. While respondents
r a Sri Penanti Public Markket most conccern on action
at n and
awarreness issue with
w mean 3..43. Another respondents from anotherr locations alsso show the same
perceptions towarrds the variaables as the mean
m value seen
s slightly same for all variables. These
T
simillarity were duue to the comm
mon current siituation at eacch public markket.
3.3 Analytical
A Ressults Using Raanking Analyssis
The analysis classsified into fourr parts in Secttion B in the questionnaire
q a below:
as
Partt 1: Current View
V at Park
king Area

Figgure 4. Frequ
uency Value of
o Parking Area
A

Tablle 2. Rankingg of Current View

V at Park
king Area
Cod
de Item’s Variable
V Frequencies Rank
R
Q3 Traffic congestion
c happpened becauuse of vehicles parked at thhe side 230 1
road
Q4 A congesstion happenedd at a peak tim
me only 228 2
Q2 A long peeriod needed to
t park vehiclles 198 3
Q5 A long peeriod needed when
w move ouut from the paarking area 183 4
Q1 A suitabiility of parkingg space 171 5

Figuure 4 shows the

t results off descriptive analysis
a of th
he item from questionnairee. The resultss was
achieeved after runnning the dataa analysis in SPSS by com
mparing frequeency value off each items in
i the
variaables. Parkingg area is one of the imporrtance issues at
a the public market that m
must be taken
n into
accoount in order to
t ease the ussers at public market. Acco
ording to Table 4, the aspeects that have been
studyy is about thee suitability paarking space at
a the public market
m which is to ease the users. In add
dition,
the time
t taken whhen moving in or out also beeing study wh
hich was may affect
a the timee for the user. Also,
the situation
s of veehicles parkedd at the side rooad may contrribute to the trraffic congestiion which wass lead
to thhe congestion at
a a peak timee.

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Partt 2: Current View

V in Publiic Market Arrea

Figurre 5. Frequenccy Value of Public

P Markeet Area

Tablle 3. Rankingg of Current View

V in Publlic Market Arrea
Cod
de Item’s Variable
V uencies
Frequ Rank
R
Q9 Priority is
i given to thee disable persoon when using
g the toilet 258 1
Q2 Wet andd dry zone locaation has beenn separated 254 2
Q1 A suitability location of
o a wet and dry
d goods 213 3
Q8 Market’ss flooring safee for user 210 4
Q7 Step’s floor safe for user 208 5
Q6 A separaate water flow
w for wastage from
f wet zonee to main drainnage 203 6
Q5 A suitability of floor’ss slope will bee easier for user to move 197 7
Q4 A suitability of non-haalal location 182 8
Q3 Water soource is placedd only at wet goods
g 175 9

Figuure 5 shows the

t current viiew in publicc market areaa was analyzeed by starts w
with a concerrn for
suitaability and sepparating locatiion for wet annd dry goods. Next, water source
s placed only at a wet zone
is coonsidered folllowed by a suitability
s of non-halal pro
oducts since the respondeents were cam
me in
diffeerence religiouus. The questtion was also asked about preparing a separate
s waterr flow for waastage
whicch came from
m the wet zonne. Then, conssidering abou
ut the marketss and step’s fflooring in terrm of
safetty for the userrs. The last quuestion is abouut the priority for the disablee person whenn using the toiilet.
Figuure 5 shows thhe result on current
c view at
a public mark
ket area and their
t ranking as well. Baseed on
Figuure 5, responddents were stroongly agree cooncern about the priority given
g to the diisable person when
usingg toilet at thee public markket with frequuency value of
o 258, meaniing that it waas the first ran
nking
comppared to anothher item. It waas followed byy concerned on
o a separatedd and the suitaability zone fo
or wet
and dry location, with frequenncy value of 254
2 and 213 respectively.
r T forth andd fifth ranking
The g that
urges the responddent’s perceptiion is about saafety for the users
u in term of
o the steps annd flooring market
m
withh frequency vaalue of 210 annd 208 respecctively. Frequency value off 203 is the siixth ranking which
w
was concerned abbout separatinng the water flow
f for wastage from wett zone to maiin drainage. Itt was
folloowed by conceerned on a suuitability of flooor’s slope will be easier for
f user to moove, a suitabiliity of
non--halal locationn and suitabilitty of water soource placed only
o at wet gooods with frequuency value of
o 197,
182 and 175 respeectively.

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Partt 3: Facilities Needed at Pu

ublic Markett

Figu
ure 6. Frequeency Value off Facilities Neeeded

Tablle 4. Rankingg of Facilities Needed at Public Markett

Cod
de Item’s Variable
V ncies
Frequen Ran
nk
Q3 Hand baasins suppliedd with water 278 1
Q4 Soap, moist
m towelettees and garbagee receptacles provided
p 270 2
Q2 Provide a resting areaa 270 3
Q5 Provide minimum onne covered littter containerr at each of wet
w 253 4
and dry zone
Q8 Lightingg adequate nattural light in the
t market 238 5
Q10 Landscaaping at parkiing lot providded with vegeetation, benchhes 238 6
and garbbage can
Q9 Alteringg road pattern in the parkingg area as a onee way system 229 7
Q6 Fresh vegetables is ready
r packed make the market
m in a goood 225 8
conditioon
Q7 Preparedd a glove for the
t users whille shopping 218 9
Q1 Provide a prayer room
m 198 10

This part describee about the annalysis of the facilities

f need
ded to be preppared at the puublic market in
i the
futurre. Providing a prayer room
m and a restingg area was con
nsidered to giive a comfort for the users while
w
at thhe public marrket. Next, thee question alsso asked abou
ut the preparinng a hand baasins supplied
d with
wateer which camee with soap, moist
m novelettees and garbagee receptacles. Then, the anaalysis on prov
viding
a minimum one coovered litter container
c at eaach of wet and
d dry zones. The
T analysis also concern fo
or the
lightting adequate natural light in
i the market. Other than th
hat, landscapinng at parking lot with vegettation,
bencches and garbaage can were considered. The
T last one is about alteringg the road patttern in the paarking
area as a one-wayy system. Baseed on Figure 6, respondentts strongly agrreed with the cleanliness factor,
fa
whicch is concernn about the supplied
s handd basins with
h water follow
wed by provviding soap, moist
m
toweelettes and garrbage receptaacles at the haand basins witth frequency value
v of 278 aand 270. The third
rankking also with frequency vallue of 270 is respond
r on pro
oviding a restiing area.
The forth and fiftth ranking thaat urges the respondent’s
r perception
p is about lightingg adequate naatural
lightt in the markeet and landscaaping at parkinng lot with veegetation, bennches and garbbage can with
h both
frequuency value of
o 238 and 2338 respectivelyy. Frequency value of 229 is the sixth rranking which
h was
conccerned about altering road pattern in thhe parking areea as a one-w
way system. Itt was followeed by

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conccerned on a frresh vegetablees ready packeed make the market

m in a goood conditionn, prepared a glove
g
for thhe users whilee shopping wiith frequency value of 225 and 218 respeectively. Whille provide a prayer
p
room
m is at the lastt ranking withh frequency value
v of 198 as
a mention byy respondents the prayer roo
om is
not necessary
n to be
b provided beecause of the public
p market only operate until noon.
Partt 4: Action an
nd Awarenesss

Figure 7. Frequencyy Value of Acction and Aw

wareness

Tablle 5. Action and

a Awarenesss
Cod
de Item’s Variable
V Frequenccies Rank
k
Q1 There iss many kind off facilities forr people at pub
blic market 154 1
Q2 The faciilities is well maintained
m froom time to tim
me 130 2
Q3 Actions taken by locaal authorities to
t upgrade thee facilities 124 3
Q4 Effort frrom authoritiees upgrading thhe facilities 121 4
Q5 Awareness towards coonvenience foor user 108 5

This part describees the analysiis of the actioon and awareeness issue. The
T first questtion was abou
ut the
awarreness of the facilities
f at thhe public markket. Next, awaareness of thee facilities welll-maintained from
time to time. The analysis also concern abouut the action an
nd effort takenn by local autthorities to upg
grade
the facilities.
f Lasttly, the questioon asked abouut the awareneess towards coonvenience forr user.
Figuure 4 shows thhe first rankingg with frequenncy value of 154 is concernn about responndents awareneess to
the facilities
f at thee public markket. It was followed by the concern
c aboutt the facilities is well mainttained
from
m time to timee with frequenncy value of 130. The thirrd ranking is about the acttion taken by local
authoorities to upggrade the facillities with freqquency value of 124. Whille for the effoort from autho
orities
upgrrading the faccilities is 121 and the last one is awareeness towardss conveniencee for the user with
frequuency value of 108.
3.4 Conclusions
C
From
m the findingss, the study can concludes that the feed
dback from the respondentss from six loccation
agreed that out off the total 13 facilities needded at the pub
blic market iddentified, the ttop 10 most severe
needded at the publlic markets aree:
1. Prrovide a hand basins supplieed with waterr;
2. Sooap, moist tow
wellettes and garbage
g recepttacles provideed at hand wassh basins;
3. Prrovide a restinng area;

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4. Provide a minimum one covered litter container at dry and wet zone;
5. Lighting adequate natural lights in the public markets;
6. Landscaping at parking lots provided;
7. Altering road pattern in the parking area as a one-way system (certain location);
8. Fresh vegetables are ready packed to ensure the public markets in a good condition;
9. Prepared a glove for the users while shopping;
10. Provide a prayer room.

4. Discussion
A development of public markets is a very important factor in improving the competitiveness of public
markets. The results obtained shows that the public markets condition physically need to be improve as
well as public market is one of the center for people to gather buying goods and meet people. A good
facilities can give an ease for the people as well as the characteristics of the facilities need to be
improve. There are many characteristics for the facilities, but for this research only related to the
common situation and top ten characteristics to be improved were discussed. By upgrading facilities
characteristics for example parking’s landscaping, provide a resting area and provide a hand basins
with water supplied can be drastically changed people’s perception towards the characteristics of
facilities at the public market. This research believes that, with the improvement of facilities can be
completely transformed into viable and social interactive places.

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