Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan tried to serve up a Goods and Services Tax (GST) free fried rice dish this morning to educate the public, but appears to have messed up his recipe.

Showing the photos of his feat on Twitter , he wrote: “My recipe and fried it myself: Vegetables, eggs, chilli, rice, salt, meat, onions, chicken, oil, and cooking gas. No GST!”

However, cooking gas is in fact taxable under the GST scheme except for student accommodations, in which case it is GST-exempt.

All other ingredients that Ahmad had listed are covered under the Goods and Services Tax (Zero-rated Supply) Order 2014.

Resepi saya & digoreng sendiri: Sayur, telur, cili, nasi, garam, daging, bawang, ayam, minyak & gas masak. Tiada GST! pic.twitter.com/zp8nncicKv

— Ahmad Maslan (@ahmadmaslan) June 6, 2015

GST was introduced on April 1 with a standard rate of six percent, replacing the Sales and Services Tax (SST), which ranges from 10 percent to six percent.

Ahmad as the Umno information chief and deputy finance minister had been at the vocal in promoting and explaining the new and often unpopular policy, but this has sometimes backfired.

In one highly publicised incident in April, Ahmad advised students at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam to cook their own meals since raw foods are zero-rated.

The students were upset with Ahmad’s remarks, pointing out that cooking is forbidden in the hostels.

He had since clarified that his advice was aimed at students living off-campus.

Cookout stirs mockery

Meanwhile on Twitter , Ahmad’s latest advice is drawing mixed responses from netizens, ranging from apparent appreciation to mockery.

“Cook yourself; don’t get taxed. Buy it from elsewhere, get taxed. I have been served by your wisdom in such early hours, YB. Thank you YB,” wrote one Twitter user @HakimKakkinen.

Several others zoomed in on the fact that the minister appears to have forgotten to remove the stems of the chillies before cooking it.

“The chillies that still have stems attached are enough to make me believe that he (Ahmad) cooked it himself,” said Twitter user @AinulNunanaa, when asked by another netizen whether she believed Ahmad’s claim that he cooked the fried rice himself.

Yet another netizen took the opportunity to take a swipe at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, apparently for his no-show at a dialogue session with NGO’s yesterday.

“You didn’t get GST’ed when buying the eggs? Or did you just took the eggs from the prime minister’s pants?” said @The_Mamu.