Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan’s faux pas with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students yesterday is among reasons why the "clueless" minister should be transferred to another ministry immediately, Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said.

Students lambasted him for telling them to cook their own food to avoid goods and services tax yesterday, because university student dormitories do not allow cooking.

"We certainly do not need a clumsy propagandist like Ahmad Maslan (below) . He should be immediately moved out to other ministries.

"But I hope Putrajaya can ensure that he will not further embarrass the government in his new posting soon," he said in a statement.

Once transferred, Liew said at least GST can be explained as a serious issue instead of through "cheap propaganda".

He also claimed that BN leaders had reportedly used "vulgar politics of race" to advocate for GST.

However, when contacted, Liew could not provide details of the "politics of race".

Ahmad: I meant those living off campus

Yesterday, Astro Awani reported that UiTM students in Shah Alam booed Ahmad during a seminar on GST.

They were especially upset with him for telling them to cook their own meals to avoid GST since raw foods are zero-rated goods.

Ahmad has since explained that his advice only applies to students living off campus, and he had also urged the campus café operator to price their food reasonably.

"I have explained it all. We encourage them to cook their own meals if they are renting outside the campus and café operators should not increase their prices as the basic food items were exempted from GST," was quoted as saying by Astro Awani today.

Meanwhile, Liew said that imposing GST on a poor population would lead to recession in a country that is dependent on domestic consumer demand for its economic growth.

He said although Malaysia used to be dependent on exports, the only the US market is currently doing well while the markets in Europe, Japan and China are stagnant.

"Since 2009, the Malaysian economy has been highly dependent on domestic consumption. When the poor and the struggling middle class are now taxed by GST, the domestic consumer market will shrink.

"In this scenario, imposing GST at this stage will be akin to killing the golden goose," he said.

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