Despite brickbats, J-Kom maintains RM400 enough for groceries

The Community Communications Department (J-Kom) has modified a controversial infographic regarding the cost of living, following criticism from netizens.

Despite amending some numbers, it maintained that a family of four can survive on less than RM400 worth of groceries per month, and a single person would spend just over RM200 per month.

However, the infographic is now accompanied by a caveat stating: “This illustrative calculation is only for goods that are (price) controlled and subsidised by the government, and does not include other items”.

The original infographic was posted at around 8am today but was amended some 12 hours later.

J-Kom listed six items that a family of four could buy, but no longer mentions the family’s income level. The earlier version said it was for a family with a minimum wage earner bringing in RM1,500 per month.

For a week’s provisions, it supposes that the family would buy two chickens weighing 2kg each (RM37.60), two 1kg bottles of cooking oil (RM13.8), a carton of 30 eggs (RM14), and two jumbo-sized loaves of bread (RM8.60).

In addition, they require two 10kg bags of rice (RM38 each) and a 12kg cylinder of cooking gas per month. The total comes to RM99.45 per week or RM397.80 per month.

A side-by-side comparison of J-Kom's infographic before it was modified (left) and after.

The earlier version gave different numbers and did not specify that some of the provisions are intended for one week. The total in the earlier version was RM391 per month.

Healthy diet?

Notably absent from the grocery list are fruits and vegetables.

For context, the Health Ministry recommends that a healthy diet for an adult should comprise at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits, per day, compared to only one serving of chicken, egg, or meat per day.

The ministry also recommends two servings of milk or dairy products per day, and up to three servings for adolescents.

In the infographic titled “Is it true that kitchen expenses have increased from RM200 to RM500 a month?”, J-Kom also claimed that an individual who is still single would only spend RM234.60 a month on the aforementioned items but in lesser quantity, except for the 30 eggs per week.

It has since drawn brickbats from netizens, with a majority of them lambasting J-Kom for posting such an “illogical” infographic.

This came after an article from Kosmo claimed that it costs RM500 a month for a household of four to buy groceries compared to RM200 previously.

This itself appeared to be based on a comment by one shopper the Malay daily met at a market, who commented on the RM300 increase in monthly groceries cost.

However, neither the interviewee nor the article benchmarked how far in the past her groceries cost RM200 per month.

This triggered copycat social media postings lamenting the cost of living.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil had since tasked the Communication and Multimedia Commission to probe such messages, saying they were in violation of rules. - Mkini