Family of four can survive on groceries worth RM391 a month, says J-Kom

 

The Community Communications Department (J-Kom) has claimed that a household of four can survive on RM391 worth of groceries a month.

In an infographic that has been widely panned on social media, J-Kom listed six items that a family of four with a minimum household income of RM1,500 could buy.

They include two whole chickens for RM37.60, two bags of 10kg rice (RM38 per bag), two bottles of cooking oil (RM13.80), a carton of 30 eggs (RM14), two jumbo loaves of bread (RM8.60) and a cylinder of gas (RM19 per month).

Various calculations by Malaysiakini based on the six items, however, failed to add up to the RM391 per month as J-Kom stated.

It is unclear how the department arrived at that amount, and whether it factored in other goods not stated in the infographic such as vegetables and fruits.

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 RM228 a month on the aforementioned items but in lesser quantity.

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