Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan remained somewhat modest with himself over his GST-free fried rice Twitter post which set a personal best record for himself with 3,335 retweets.

“Never before have I enjoyed so many (retweets).That is a record for myself," he said when met at Parliament's lobby today.

The picture of Ahmad with his self-made GST-free fried rice rapidly became the target of friendly 'attacks' after he posted it on Twitter on June 14.

Netizens generously found fault in everything in the photo from the insect spray beside the wok to the faultlessly arranged cucumber in the  kuali  itself.

"Many don't believe I cook myself but I have cooked many times for my family, whenever I am free," he said today.

'Just being creative'

The Pontian MP also saw no problem with insect spray beside the wok as he wasn't "spraying it into the fried rice".

 

Arguing that the cucumber was part of the food decoration, he added there was nothing wrong in being creative and creativity was unlimited.

"I was just being creative. I put cucumber in the wok. I even put the  kuali  on the (dining) table so I don't need a plate," he observed.

"Do not perceive it as something extraordinary or funny. There is nothing strange about it either," he said, elaborating on the cucumber decoration.

"Beside watching CNN, CNBC and Al-Jazeera, I love to watch reality cooking shows. This is one of my favourite pastimes," he said.

"While there are people who love golfing, I love to cook for my family," he said.

 

The deputy minister was heavily criticised for his remarks to explain GST. He also took to twitter with his recipe for GST-free  nasi lemak,  to provide an alternative way to save money.

Explaining further, he said he just wanted Malaysians, who have the habit of dining out, to know they have another choice - prepare GST zero-rated home-cooked  food.

 

“This is where Malaysia is different from other countries, as the government has given them the choice to be exempted from the new taxation.

 

"If I weren't so creative, I would not catch the public's attention [...] (I don't know if) the message reached them," he shrugged.