Avian or Evian problem? PMO gaffe has netizens crying 'fowl'

A video of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob chairing a meeting on cost-of-living woes inadvertently drew attention to the luxuries enjoyed by top government officials.

The 26-second clip depicted Ismail Sabri chairing a National Action Council on Cost of Living meeting on Jan 31.

According to the caption, the council decided to reduce the maximum retail price of chicken by 20 sen to RM8.90 and maintain the price of eggs.

The pricing will be fixed from Feb 5 to June 5.

This video, uploaded on the Prime Minister's Office's social media accounts, showed that meeting participants were served 500ml bottles of Evian.

These bottles are sold at RM4.50 on Jaya Grocer's website. The manufacturer's website described the product as "natural spring water containing only naturally occurring electrolytes from the French Alps" and is produced by French company Danone.

In comparison, the same supermarket sells the 600ml bottle of Spritzer water - bottled in Taiping, Perak - at RM1.25. In other words, the price for a bottle of Evian was 3.6 times higher.

The video drew scorn from Endie Shazlie Akhbar, the former press secretary to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on Twitter.

"The combined monthly salary of those at the meeting is over RM1 million and the result of this meeting is the ceiling price of chicken going down 20 sen.

"But what's important is that the food served during the meeting is delicious and the video looks cool," wrote Endie.

Twitter user @esKahn questioned why taxpayers have to subsidise expensive drinking water for ministers and high-ranking civil service staff.

Twitter users @khalidkarim and activist Azrul Mohd Khalid (@azrulmohdkhalib) found it hard to swallow that a 1.5 litre bottle of Evian cost almost as much as 1kg of chicken.

"That is something I learnt today, thanks to the government's high-powered cost-of-living committee," wrote @khalidkarim.

Another netizen @datmagicalgirl was concerned not just about the cost of serving Evian but the cost of producing the video.

"Don't forget the cost going into catering, the videographers and the video editors.

"(All this) only to announce a 20 sen reduction in the price of chicken. I'm wondering what is the other outcome from this meeting," she tweeted.

Malaysiakini is attempting to reach the Prime Minister's Office for comments.

Poultry farming cost

The cost of poultry farming has risen of late due primarily to an increase in feed cost and labour shortages.

Poultry farmers rely on imported feed - primarily corn, soybeans and wheat.

Malaysia has moved from being self-sufficient in poultry production as of 2018 to being reliant on imports.

According to the Department of Statistics, poultry is the most consumed form of protein by a wide margin.

The average Malaysian consumes 47.4kg of poultry meat and 20.7kg of eggs in 2020. The second-most consumed meat is from fisheries - 19.7kg per person in 2020.