Najib's kangkung gaffe shadows BN in Kajang
Aidila RazakPublished: Mar 20, 2014 3:10 AM | Updated: Mar 20, 2014 8:07 AM
KAJANG Months since he gave the speech, PM Najib Abdul Razak’s kangkung gaffe continues to plague the BN in the Kajang by-election campaign.
KAJANG Months since he gave the speech, PM Najib Abdul Razak’s kangkung gaffe continues to plague the BN in the Kajang by-election campaign.
With cost of living high on the electorate’s concerns, Pakatan Rakyat flyers on this continue to highlight the PM’s remark, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to go on the defensive.
“The PM read the papers about the price of vegetables and cited the price of kangkung,” he said to titters from an audience of about 250 people, including many in Umno shirts.
“I am serious! I don’t know how it can be twisted to become viral when he was only saying that prices go up and down but people only talk about prices going up.”
In Kajang for half the day yesterday, he then gave his own example - fresh fish may cost RM3 per kilogramme in the morning but half that in the afternoon.
“Prices can change within the day!” he stressed.
Najib had in a speech asked why there are no praises for the government when kangkung prices went down.
He explained it was to illustrate that prices of goods and services depend on market forces.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin also slammed PKR for accusing BN of being a “corrupt government” when the government has put in all sorts of measures to curb corruption.
He also cracked an off-colour joke lapped up by the audience.
“They say BN is barang naik (price hikes), barang naik, barang naik, so I ask whose barang (thing) has naik (risen)? Whose ‘thing’ can’t go up?
“Now they say BN rasuah (corrupt), BN rasuah, BN rasuah, but who is corrupt? If you have evidence, lodge a report!”
He also said it is not right to just say the government is corrupt as graft also exists in in the private sector.
BN’s ceramah venue was several hundred metres away from PKR’s Taman Mesra operations centre.
Although Muhyiddin’s speech could be heard until the PKR office, a handful of people gathered there instead, watching a recording of PKR leaders speaking.
Interestingly, in one of the speeches played at the PKR venue, the party’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said they are accusing the BN government of wastage and corruption based on the Auditor-General’s Report.
Neck-to-neck fight
PKR’s earlier rallies at the same housing area attracted about the same number of people, indicating the neck-to-neck fight there.
Taman Mesra was won by PKR by a slim 48 votes in the May general election. It is among six Malay-majority areas lost or narrowly won by PKR then.
PKR won Kajang with a large majority of close to 7,000 votes on the back of landslide support in Chinese-majority areas.
The state constiuency’s more than 39,000 voters will choose between PKR’s Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and BN’s Chew Mei Fun this Sunday.
With cost of living high on the electorate’s concerns, Pakatan Rakyat flyers on this continue to highlight the PM’s remark, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to go on the defensive.“The PM read the papers about the price of vegetables and cited the price of kangkung,” he said to titters from an audience of about 250 people, including many in Umno shirts.
“I am serious! I don’t know how it can be twisted to become viral when he was only saying that prices go up and down but people only talk about prices going up.”
In Kajang for half the day yesterday, he then gave his own example - fresh fish may cost RM3 per kilogramme in the morning but half that in the afternoon.
“Prices can change within the day!” he stressed.
Najib had in a speech asked why there are no praises for the government when kangkung prices went down.
He explained it was to illustrate that prices of goods and services depend on market forces.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin also slammed PKR for accusing BN of being a “corrupt government” when the government has put in all sorts of measures to curb corruption.
He also cracked an off-colour joke lapped up by the audience.
“They say BN is barang naik (price hikes), barang naik, barang naik, so I ask whose barang (thing) has naik (risen)? Whose ‘thing’ can’t go up?
“Now they say BN rasuah (corrupt), BN rasuah, BN rasuah, but who is corrupt? If you have evidence, lodge a report!”
He also said it is not right to just say the government is corrupt as graft also exists in in the private sector.
BN’s ceramah venue was several hundred metres away from PKR’s Taman Mesra operations centre.
Although Muhyiddin’s speech could be heard until the PKR office, a handful of people gathered there instead, watching a recording of PKR leaders speaking.
Interestingly, in one of the speeches played at the PKR venue, the party’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said they are accusing the BN government of wastage and corruption based on the Auditor-General’s Report.
Neck-to-neck fight
PKR’s earlier rallies at the same housing area attracted about the same number of people, indicating the neck-to-neck fight there.
Taman Mesra was won by PKR by a slim 48 votes in the May general election. It is among six Malay-majority areas lost or narrowly won by PKR then.
PKR won Kajang with a large majority of close to 7,000 votes on the back of landslide support in Chinese-majority areas.
The state constiuency’s more than 39,000 voters will choose between PKR’s Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and BN’s Chew Mei Fun this Sunday.
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