Najib, Kangkung And Rising Costs Of Living

In the Bolehland context, kangkung is not just a vegetable. It is a term used to refer to the half-past-six professors populating Bolehhland's ivory towers.

This type of kangkung speak on cue and according to scripts that don't even make sense to their fellow kangkung luminaries when they are recruited to present a view to favour their patron (s).

Don't get me wrong. Kangkung (water spinach) is a delicious green, humble but a king, especially when it is cooked stir-fried with belacan and chilli padi.

It is easily my favourite green, though we don't often eat it because the Chinese believe that the vegetable is too yin, too "cooling" for the body. And it is undoubtedly a favourite among the Malay community.

However, if you are not too careful, especially when eating long strands of the vegetable in a hurry or absentmindedly, you could choke on kangkung.

Which could be the predicament Pm Najib unwittingly found himself in when he tried to bite off more than he could chew, so to speak, with his kangkung speech on price hikes and how it was that the government was not to blame, because not everything is getting more expensive like kangkung for example.

That was where the clueless or insensitive Pm faltered. You don't make fun of people's favourite food by implying that they could always eat more kangkung to tighten their belts, while those in power continue to live like kings at the people's expense.

Now that Najib is choking on kangkung, the least decent thing he could do is to apologise for his faux pas, not trying to seem proletariat by proclaiming he loved kangkung too.

It is too late, Najib!

You are out of touch!

Perhaps you should get rid of your expensive kangkung advisers?

And if they are being paid for from public funds, don't you think that you should compensate the rakyat?

The world is laughing at you too.