Najib ‘out of touch’ with public’s plight, critics charge, following quinoa remarks and financial advice

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s comment that quinoa was his substitute for rice has drawn criticisms from opposition politicians, who charged that he was out of touch with the masses.

His subsequent advice to Malaysian youths to spend within their means was also panned by the younger generation who said the premier was disconnected from the challenges and sentiments they face.

Mr Najib’s suppporter-turned-critic Mahathir Mohamad took a dig at the prime minister on Friday (Feb 23), saying he only eats local rice.

“Saya makan nasi beras tempatan sahaja (I only eat local rice),” the chairman of the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition tweeted in Bahasa Malaysia.

His tweet also features an image of a smiling Mr Najib with the quote, “Saya tak makan nasi, saya makan quinoa (I don’t eat rice, I eat quinoa).”

It included another caption of a beggar saying: “Yang dia makan quinoa 250gm RM15, yang rakyat makan beras 1kg RM2.70” (What he eats costs RM15 (S$5.07) for 250g, what the people eat, rice, costs RM2.70 for 1kg).

Mr Najib has been criticised by his detractors after he mentioned in a forum on Thursday that he could not exercise as frequently as he wanted, so he watched his diet and had replaced the local staple rice with the Peruvian-grown quinoa.

“Not as often I’d like to (exercise). I like to eat. My problem is I love food. Like most Malaysians. But I have to control (my eating). For example, I don’t eat rice, but quinoa. My son introduced me to quinoa, a food from Peru,” he said in a live question-and-answer Budget 2018 programme.

“It is protein-based, so it has less carbohydrates and less sugar content, so it is better than rice,” he added.

“I’m trying to find out whether we can grow quinoa or its equivalent in Malaysia. It’s healthier than rice.”

In Malaysia, a 250g bag of organic quinoa is sold for RM14.69 at Tesco supermarket. This means 10kg could cost almost RM600.

By contrast, a 10kg bag of Jasmine Super Special rice costs only RM25.85.

Opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said Mr Najib’s statement showed he was out of touch with the plight of Malaysians.

“Until the prime minister’s live session yesterday, I had never heard of quinoa – in fact, I did not even know that quinoa existed," said Mr Lim.

He added that what Mr Najib ate was 23 times more expensive than rice, the staple food for 30 million Malaysians, and that those who ate quinoa belonged to the super top 2 per cent in Malaysia.

“The (upcoming) general election will be quinoa versus rice, clean government versus kleptocracy, and Najib versus the people of Malaysia,” he said.

“This reminds me of the Marie Antoinette story. The last queen of France before the French Revolution in 1789 supposedly said ‘let them eat cake’ when she learnt that peasants had no bread.

“The Chinese Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty also retorted ‘why don’t they eat meat?’ when told his people had not enough rice to eat,” he added.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the country’s economy was bad, with many blaming the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the rising costs of living.

“The people is going through hardship, especially those at the bottom (lower-income families). They can only eat rice, not quinoa. (In fact), there are also some who can hardly afford to eat rice,” he said.

Responding to the criticisms, the Prime Minister’s Office chided those who had allegedly twisted Mr Najib's statement.

“The prime minister stated he eats quinoa grains, this is part of the healthy diet regime he practices,” it said. “It is also based on the advice of doctor. Besides that, he also exercises routinely to keep his health and fitness.”

Mr Najib was also censured by several Malaysian youths who said the premier is in no position to dispense advice on their spending.

This comes as Mr Najib said on Thursday at the same Budget 2018 programme that Malaysian youths should spend within their means, saying some could not differentiate between living costs and lifestyle spending.

As an example, he made a comparison between dining at an expensive Japanese restaurant and a mamak eatery.

“Lifestyle (spending is), for example, when we go to a Japanese restaurant in a well-known hotel, where you have to pay, say RM800 to RM1,000 per person, depending on what you order. But if you go to a 24-hour mamak, how much would the meal cost?” he said, to which programme moderator Fizo Omar replied: “RM8.”

The example, said 23-year-old Jean Vaneisha Ravindran, was not in sync with the spending habits of most youths today.

“I get anxiety if the entire bill reaches RM200,” she said.

“A splurge for us would be Nando’s. Some of us would even consider Domino’s a treat,” she said, referring to two popular fast-food outlets.

“University students who live on campuses speak about eating Maggi (instant noodles), eggs and kicap (sauce) for months. Don’t you think if we had the money to just indulge on better food, we would?” she said.

Ms Ravindran said Mr Najib should acknowledge the problem of rising cost of living and how it affects the youths.

“Increasing minimum wage will increase spending power. Provide subsidies for living essentials so money can be better used elsewhere,” she said.

Law student Jen Hui Chong said it was unfair of Mr Najib to brand all youths as not knowing how to spend.

“I recognise a lot of economic factors play into high living costs, but denying or painting the picture that youths are complaining only because they don’t know how to budget (their expenses) is ignorant and seems to be the go-to response of the baby boomer generation,” she said.

Mr Rizal Rozhan, 26 from Petaling Jaya said it was “almost unheard” of that the “average” Malaysian youth spends RM1,000 per person in a Japanese restaurant.

Mr Rizal, who is from Sabah and is working in Petaling Jaya, admitted that while he agreed youths today needed deeper financial education, the government needed to acknowledge the fact that “youths are jobless, not earning as much as they should, suffer from the mismatch of skills and job opportunities”. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT