Malaysian politicians say the darndest things about food and cost of living
A former prime minister even chided Malaysians once for not being thankful that the price of kangkung had come down.
By QISHIN TARIQ
With inflation, a weak ringgit and their knock-on effect on cost of living, the public typically turns to leaders for assurance on what to expect or do next.
One problem, however, is the habit of some folks in authority in Malaysia of doling out questionable advice. Indeed, a former prime minister once even chided Malaysians for not being thankful that the price of kangkung (water spinach) had come down.
With that in mind, here are some of the more recent comments that have succeeded in riling up the rakyat.
Does Malaysia have an "eating addiction"?
Rafizi Ramli is no stranger to controversial remarks. However, instead of exposés on alleged power abuse, the last year or so has seen Malaysia's current Economy Minister serve up a couple of apparent gaffes.
The latest? Calling out Malaysians in September this year for being "addicted to eating out"; a practice that consumes a large portion of their income.
To be fair, Rafizi did lay part of the blame for this on past policies, which neglected local food production and public transportation infrastructure. Also, his remarks were allegedly based on 20 years of recorded data from household expenditure surveys.
But Malaysians were having none of it, clapping back that convenience and the cost of preparing meals at home, especially for small and single-person households, make eating out a necessity.
Yet the biggest problem, Malaysian Federation of Hawkers and Traders Association president Rosli Sulaiman tells us, is that people in authority are out of touch with reality.
"By telling people not to eat out, they (authorities) aren't thinking about both sides. Both consumers and retailers are on the losing side of inflation," Rosli says, adding that solutions would go down better with the public rather than just criticism.
"The suggestions need to make sense. People won't listen to the ministers if they're used to eating out and see that it's not cost-effective to cook smaller portions at home," he says.
Shop til you drop
Can a grocery run escalate into a political attack requiring a police report? Only in Malaysia, it would seem.
Basically, Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Fuziah Salleh was hit with brickbats after a video of her shopping for household groceries with a RM200 budget went viral in early September.
In the clip, Fuziah is seen getting sundries like instant noodles, sardines, chicken, cooking oil, milo and more from a supermarket before exclaiming, "All of these items cost me RM136.30, who said that RM200 is not enough?".
The problem, though, is that it seems the vid, which accrued many comments on how the politician's shopping list didn't reflect what the average family consumed in a week, was an old one and taken out of context.
This resulted in Fuziah's special officer lodging a police report over the video and calling for an investigation of several social media users.
The thing is, it didn't cause the problem to go away, with many Malaysians doubling down on their criticism of the politician's remarks, despite them being old, and some others telling Fuziah to not waste the cop's time.
Unfriendly meals
Malaysian government politicians haven't been the only ones in the firing line, incidentally. Case in point, PAS lawmaker Dr Halimah Ali, who came under a barrage of attacks following her claim in Parliament in February this year that the government's Menu Rahmah (literally: friendly menu) initiative could lead to "cancer, autoimmune diseases and autism".
Dr Halimah had also questioned if the programme, which encourages restaurants to offer meals at under RM5, was using poor quality ingredients.
After being criticised for fear-mongering, with, among others, the Autism Inclusiveness Direct Action Group (Aida) condemning her, the politician claimed she was misunderstood. She also claimed she never said that Menu Rahmah meals could lead to cancer and even challenged critics to check the Hansard for proof.
That, however, backfired when Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil found and published her Parliamentary statement. Ouch.
No yolking matter
Politicians aside, even certain senior civil servants have been known to spout nonsensical comments about food prices. Example, Melaka Domestic Trade And Consumer Affairs Ministry director Norena Jaafar, who got proverbial egg on her face when she advised Malaysians to reduce eating eggs if they knew prices were going up.
For context, in June 2022, the Malaysian Cabinet set the ceiling price of chicken eggs at 45 sen per egg for Grade A, 43 sen for Grade B and 41 sen for Grade C, all up by 2 sen each. This translated to an increase of at least 36 sen per dozen.
Norena's response to this in the face of backlash? Eat fewer eggs.
"If we eat about 20 eggs a week, we can reduce it to 10 or 15 eggs. It should not be a problem, that's our lifestyle," she reportedly said.
Needless to say, Malaysians were not amused, even after Norena's boss, Domestic Trade secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof stepped in to try and resolve the issue.
The better solution, however, according to Malaysia Consumers Movement (MCM) Deputy President Beninder Singh, would have been for authorities to be more responsible with their statements from the get-go.
"Excessive politics is suffocating Malaysia and forcing the government to choose being popular rather than doing the right thing. The government's commitment in moving towards implementing targeted subsidies is commendable but we hope that it's correctly implemented," he tells Yahoo.
Interestingly, however, Beninder notes that the time for cheap goods may be over, and one way to get a better handle on costs and prices is to "buy less".
He says: "If the cost of a particular product begins to skyrocket, we consumers can collectively react by reducing consumption which will help in stabilising prices."
That doesn't necessarily mean, of course, that one should eat fewer eggs. But it does suggest that the government is not solely responsible for keeping prices low. Regular Malaysians are too.
Still, it would help if more politicos would think before they speak.
Do you have a story tip? Email: malaysia.newsroom@yahooinc.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
