The "Buy Malaysian" campaign was launched last month as a continuation of the low price campaign. It is part of the government's push to ensure domestic consumption supports economic growth.

The thrust of the campaign is simple -- continue to spend and support Malaysian brands, but spend wisely. But as simple as it sounds, there are still some grey areas in what qualifies to be called a "Made in Malaysia" product. Retailers want clearer guidelines.

Under Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry guidelines, foreign hypermarkets are to stock their shelves with 30 per cent Bumiputera products and 30 per cent products sourced from small- and medium-sized industries.

Generally, the big hypermarkets like Carrefour, Giant and Tesco source 70 to 80 per cent of their products locally.

Local hypermarkets like Mydin, Econsave and Sunshine are exempted from these quotas to give them a competitive edge against the foreign chains.

A source at one local retail chain said its non-food category stocks more foreign than local items.

So the question is -- do I shop in a foreign hypermarket that sells mostly Malaysian-made products, or should I shop at a Malaysian chain which carries products from abroad? If I choose the foreign chain, the money ultimately goes to the foreigners operating it. But if I choose a local chain, am I indirectly supporting a foreign economy?

It may seem curious that foreign hypermarkets source their goods predominantly from the domestic market, while local ones can source their goods from abroad. This is said to have started in 2002, when foreign hypermarkets started to mushroom all over the country, leading to fears that local sundry shops would be put out of business.

In order to protect them, the government came up with various rules, some written and some not, to help the local businesses compete with the foreigners.

A few years ago, foreign hypermarkets were directed to help small and medium-sized industries (SMIs) by showcasing their products on their shelves, never mind that every SMI then seemed to have only soy sauce and crackers to offer.

The more one helped to promote the SMIs, both in Malaysia and by launching their products abroad in their chains, the more brownie points these foreign hypermarkets received. This is believed to have helped them obtain the licences to expand their businesses.

But ultimately, what one buys and where one shops boils down to how deep one's pocket is and what one's routine is.