Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan has denied telling the public that they can save money by eating rice with kicap (soy sauce).

"Lies, lies, I pray that God will open the heart of whoever cooked up this lie so that they repent and don't repeat it," Ahmad tweeted.

The tweet was accompanied by an image of him with a speech bubble saying "Fitnah" (slander) to a caption of the offending statement.

The allegedly defamatory statement says: "If you want to save wisely, the rakyat can eat rice with kicap. Don't blame the government for implementing the GST (goods and services tax) and abolishing subsidies."

It is not clear where the image originated from, or where it was making the rounds.

Fitnah fitnah. Saya doakan agar org yg mencipta fitnah ini dibukakan hatinya oleh Allah agar kesal & tak ulangi lagi pic.twitter.com/iEQpQx9xjY

— Ahmad Maslan (@ahmadmaslan) January 5, 2016

Ahmad had stumbled into the limelight again recently after allegedly suggesting that the people take up two jobs to sustain themselves.

However, he has denied saying this, and said he had meant that people should take up online business in their free time to supplement their income.