This week the Malaysian prime minister has been learning how not to communicate to the electorate. Appearing in a viral video clip, Datuk Seri Najib Razak questioned why people were complaining about the cost of living even though the price of kangkung (water spinach) has gone down. This comment went down particularly badly, not least because the Malaysian public are already unhappy about what they see as rising costs caused by official corruption.

Rather than addressing the electorate’s specific concerns, the Prime Minister instead thought he could dodge the issue by highlighting the price drop of an already very cheap vegetable. In the video he said: “When prices of things go up, everything goes up … Today I read in the newspaper the prices of some things which have dropped. The price of kangkung increased before this, and now it has gone down.

“When this happens,” he added, “they don’t want to praise the government. But when it rises, they blame the government … This is not fair as it is due to weather conditions.”

Neither the media nor his public were having any of this, and he was soon the subject of ridicule and criticism online. The prime minister’s statement has even spawned a line of T-shirts branded with a “Keep Calm and Eat Kangkung” slogan.

While the comments on social media have often sought to make fun of the situation, the sheer volume of people discussing it shows the extent of anger at the government’s inability to deal with issues that are important to the public.

If Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government wanted to be seen as aloof, out of touch and unfeeling by their public, they may have probably achieved it.