Thanks to Najib, kangkung sizzles internationally

The kangkung topic is just sizzling hot. The flaks thrown at Prime Minister Najib Razak by netizens over his kangkung remark were picked by international portal such as BBC and Kompas, a popular newspaper in Indonesia.

British broadcaster the BBC ran an article yesterday titled ‘#BBCtrending: Be careful what you say about spinach’ with a picture of a T-Shirt ‘Keep Calm and Eat Kangkung’ on how Malaysians have poked fun on Najib’s remark.

“Kangkung-gate", as it's been dubbed by some, has hit a nerve because many people are struggling with the rising cost of living, and are resentful of what they regard as corruption, and lavish spending by the government,” read the report.

The article had garnered more attention today after media highlighted complains by netizens that the article was inaccessible from Malaysia’s shore.

AFP reported that Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Telekom Malaysia’s Internet Service had denied they had blocked the page.

Accesibility to the page was recovered soon after.

Meanwhile, Kompas also reported that the sad fate that befell Najib soon after his speech complaining about Malaysians not being grateful to the government for the drop in the price of kangkung was uploaded on Youtube.

“Soon after the video was uploaded to Youtube last weekend, Malaysia internet activists started to poke fun and ridicule the speech.

There are users who made an account called ‘Hari Kangkung Sedunia’ (World’s Kangkung Day) in Facebook and upload numerous parody videos and photos on kangkung,” it reported.

The media sensation on kangkung has left the public wondering what will Najib’s bunch of expensive advisors will do the save the day?

“Next time, if you want to blame it on bad weather, just blame it on bad weather and leave the innocent kangkung alone!” perhaps the most sound advice his advisors could offer Najib now. -HD