Public slams minister for "rice with fish broth" comment

Speaking at a meeting held by the People’s National Congress (PNC) on Sunday evening, Minister at the President's Office Ali Arif spoke to the public about reducing costs during this economic crisis in the Maldives. According to him, people need to simmer down to a simpler life by eating basic rice and fish broth for their meals.

“These days we need to stop always making takeaways and eating it at home and instead get down to a simpler life by cooking some rice and fish broth for ourselves at home,” he said.

Ali Arif's remarks have sparked outrage on social media, some are venting and nonplussed while the others are joking. They have filled the entire social media with comments tossed in with fish broth and rice images.

'The common man has always had fish broth and rice'

Fish broth and rice are still a staple of many Maldivians’ daily meals. So when Ali Arif said that, some people questioned what else the people were eating besides fish broth and rice.

"The common man always gets to eat fish broth and rice. The state spends a lot on politicians like you. Salaries are over MVR 65,000. Free health care, free food, free transportation, a large pension," one commented.

"If anybody has to go down to a simpler life, it should be politicians, not ordinary citizens”.

A person who expressed a similar view on Facebook said that the people should not have to go down to the situation that Ali Arif described.

“People who earn their own living should not be told to reduce their standards of living by those that take salaries from the people's money and make all their expenditures with it,” he wrote.

Another noted that the people are not spending the money given by the government but instead the government is run by the tax money paid by the people.

The advice to eat fish broth and rice has also been criticised by some fishermen. The ‘Masveri Ihavandhoo' Facebook page made a post about the feelings of a fisherman who is not even able to afford fish broth and rice.

"Even rice can be eaten by catching a fish. A fish can be caught by going out to sea. We can go out to sea by buying fuel first," the post read.

Some respondents to Ali Arif's remarks say on social media that the government should start the cost-cutting measures from within. For example, by reducing political positions, state expenditure and corruption.

"No talk about lowering their salaries. It would be better if we talked about that," wrote one on X.

Some people are voicing that the financial crisis can be overcome by lowering the top-paid top-posts in the government to the standard of living simpler lives, ie eating fishbroth and rice.

“The financial suffering of the country is more likely to be alleviated if those in government and state positions, who are on unmatched salaries, move to a financial situation where they have to eat rice fish broth,” another posted.

"This suffering should not be a burden to the public. Politicians have thrown us into poverty!"

Former Vice President Mohammed Jameel Ahmed's criticism came with a list of things the government has overdone and promises they have broken. He called for the reduction of numbers in the government, embassies and SOEs.

Those who commented on the news in Atoll Times about Ali Arif's speech have also criticised him.

"Even when the state treasury did not receive a single penny during the COVID-19 pandemic, the people were not told to drink fish broth. You don't know how to rule," one commenter said.

From the recipe for how to cook fish broth to indirect criticism, there is much backlash over the President’s Office minister’s comments on social media. One such example is a poem composed by young poet Izza Ahmed Nizar titled to mean that the favourite food of Maldivians is fish broth and rice. 

Before concluding I would like to include a very interesting question asked by a friend:

"I can't eat fish broth and rice. What do I do to cut costs now?"