No need to go poking a hornet's nest - KJ

SHAH ALAM - Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli's statement on Malaysians addiction to eating out, is like poking the hornet's nest.

According to Former Umno youth chief, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar what the people want to know is the government's action plan to address the current economic problems and rising prices of goods.

"For me, yes, they (the government) need to reduce analysis and increase action. Of course, people will say that analysis is needed, that we need to show the reasons and structural problems that cause people to eat out, and so on, but this is an emotional issue.

"People are facing difficulties, and prices of goods are rising. So, there's no need to go poking the hornet's nest

"The hornet's nest here (means) the topic of people's eating habits and such. This is a very personal thing," he said during the "Keluar Sekejap" Podcast Program, which he co-hosts with former Umno information chief, Shahril Sufian Hamdan.

On Monday, Rafizi announced that the addiction to eating out is causing a significant portion of the monthly income of the people in this country to be spent on fulfilling this desire.

In the meantime, Khairy stated that a minister should not disclose their thought processes if there is no solution to an issue.

"The people want to see a mitigation plan or an action plan (for the issue). They don't want to see our analysis or our thought processes.

"I understand this because I was once the Health Minister during the Covid-19 pandemic, so I don't want too much analysis before we announce a certain action, whether to end the Movement Control Order (MCO) or introduce other strategies to handle this pandemic.

"In this matter, even though I sympathise with Rafizi as a friend, this is fair in terms of the current political climate," he said.