Kangkung*, anyone?
This was the tweet by Malaysian comedian Kuah Jen Han, which spread like wildfire over the social network. This isn’t the first time my country has become a laughing stock. Oh, that was too rushed in. Nothing is wrong with my country really. I mean, Malaysia is so rich in natural resources that its gross domestic product grew an average 6.5%, for almost 50 years! The only thing wrong is that our Prime Minister, Najib Razak, under whatever circumstances, constantly manages to get himself into these situations – deep shit.
To clarify, I am in no way affiliated with any political party whatsoever. I am writing this as a concerned Malaysian from a neutral standpoint. I tried so hard to refrain myself from including any sort of political issues in this blog but this was just too hard to resist.
Malaysia welcomed the new year with rise of prices in basic necessities such as fuel and electricity, and as usual, fingers are pointed towards the government. However, in a recent speech, Najib talked in elated spirit saying that while the prices of other things have soared, the price of ‘kangkung’, or more commonly known as the water spinach, has dropped. He also added, asking that why aren’t the people praising the government when the price of kangkung has dropped. What I don’t understand here is, how has the drop of the price of a vegetable mitigate the inflationary pressure and lifted the national economy?
Okay, it is time for us to make kangkung our national dish, I think it serves as a perfect manifestation of Malaysia’s culinary diversity. While we are on it, lets eat kangkung for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, also made a remark on this memorable occasion:
“@BBCWorld: #BBCtrending on #Malaysia‘s “spinach-gate” http://t.co/qxDViqB0Y4 #kangkung pic.twitter.com/WUJORJFmPS”
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) January 15, 2014
So it got me wondering, if the government is so competent in bringing prices down, why is it doing the exact opposite? The reduced price could be due to a climate phenomenon, but our ‘wise’ Prime Minister chose to exploit this as a pretext for his unwelcome policies. But, what really propelled this mistake into a huge mess for our beloved Prime Minister?
It all started when the video of his speech went viral and shared across social media networks, which shows how powerful social networks are. This platform connects to people faster than a blink of eye. If you manage to ridicule yourself and let it be posted on the Internet, especially if you are a leader of a government, prepare to be ruined and judged.
Here is a version of the original video narrated in english.