YOURSAY | ‘Wearing a Burberry is akin to dressing wounds of the poor with vinegar.’

PM's expensive outfits indicate disconnect from common people - Fahmi Fadzil

Mr Wilson: Former international trade and industry minister Rafidah Aziz has been proven right. Our ministers, including Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, lack empathy and common sense.

When the rakyat have to scrap the bottom of the barrel, collecting loose change in their car's coin box, the prime minister is ever-willing to show off his expensive RM6,000 shirts. Half of the Malaysian population will not even earn that kind of money monthly.

Show some decency. It is your and your ministers' job to make life better for the rakyat and not have them envy your expensive clothes and lifestyle. You are paid by the rakyat through their taxes, so don't start acting like you are above them.

MerdekaMerdekaMerdeka: What is the point of donning the finest threads in the world just to fake finesse, when you don’t seem to have a thread of empathy in you towards the pain and predicament of the rakyat?

Wearing these grotesque and obscenely priced clothes to meet the very same people whose burden you are looked upon to alleviate, is akin to dressing their wounds with vinegar.

Malaysia Is Surrealist Art That Can Be Bought: Ismail Sabri is merely trying to get rid of his "batik kuih lapis" image and slipping into more savvy fashion to connect with the Tik Tok generation.

Who cares about showing empathy to the struggling citizens, or walking the talk about raising the national language to the skies? If the man can afford to wear Burberry, he should be able to flaunt it.

ScarletHornet9963: Come on prime minister, you are not a young man anymore. Why continue to show off your fashion in public even if you can well afford it?

Instead, you should show more of your language prowess by speaking good English, a language that brings you the latest information on everything. Leave the fashion shows to models.

9th of May: If you have the style, you don't need to wear an expensive shirt to look good. He looks like a Christmas tree every time he wears those rainbow-coloured shirts.

Are our beautiful batik shirts not good enough for our ministers?

Hang Babeuf: When Ismail Sabri announced that the government may re-introduce Goods and Services Tax (GST), he was allegedly seen wearing an expensive designer watch – Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 44MM Blue Cameo – worth a whopping RM292,553.

The watch alone can subsidise hundreds of thousands of chickens – 60 sen per kilogramme for poultry farmers.

Expensive clothes not unusual, PM gets many gifts - Nazri to Fahmi

Moontime: We are not questioning the gifts he received. What grinds our gears is that he chose to flaunt it knowing full well the economic problems faced by the rakyat: rising unemployment, runaway inflation and the ever-increasing number of B40s (bottom 40 percent).

At least show some solidarity with the rakyat. Or perhaps Umno is so used to having its nose high up in the air and forgot about the ground where it is standing.

MS: A prime minister who is sensitive to the impoverished state of the nation and the poor people he claims to represent, will not wear clothes costing thousands even if they were “donated” by crony businessmen or gifted by those wanting favours in return.

He will be embarrassed to display ostentation and will urge his ministers to live frugally so as to not appear clueless and boorish. Such a PM will publicly tell everyone not to present him with expensive gifts but to donate to a welfare fund catering to the needy.

But not Ismail Sabri or anyone in his bloated ‘Ketuanan Kabinet’. Just look at them in their fancy cars, their wrists sporting the most expensive of watches and their garish wardrobe filled with distasteful items of clothing – they are as repulsive and loathsome as their self-serving policies.

KSD: Excuse me, Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz. Educate yourself by finding out how the United States president treats gifts. It will be an eye-opener for our corrupt Malaysian politicians.

BlueCrab6133: At the place where I work, there is a strict “no gift policy. It is displayed prominently and must be adhered to by all staff. Those who don't comply with this policy risk disciplinary action.

Aren't our ministers subject to this same policy as well?

From what Nazri is saying, our ministers get expensive gifts from god-knows-whom and our ministers in turn show their "gratitude" by using these "gifts". One wonders in what other ways they demonstrate their "gratitude".

Existential Turd: Any form of gifts, donations or gratuity is bribery and is a form of corruption. Nazri basically admitted the PM’s office, and by extension, the entire cabinet and all levels of government is a giant gravy train.

Why? Because the rot starts from the top.

IndigoTrout2522: Yes, Nazri does not know what he is talking about because birds of the same feathers flock together.

The point made here is firstly, all gifts donated to the government servants, including ministers, belong to the government. Secondly, they should live by the standard of practising what they say/preach.

Thirdly, accepting gifts on the job for personal use is a form of bribery, unless it is of low value like RM25. Finally, showing off your expensive gifts show a lack of empathy for the poor rakyat.

If you are not a minister or an official, no one would care. If you can’t practise humility, then don’t be a minister or official.

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