People have reacted mostly with disbelief to BN lawmaker Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s comments about moving out of the city to ease the pressures of urban life, with some asking to watch the video clip again to verify what they had heard.

Most of their reactions were a mix of amusement and bemusement, with some merely able to shake their heads, while others got quite worked up about the issue.

The responses ranged from being frustrated, disappointed to even unsurprised to hear this coming from a minister.

Malaysiakini took to the streets yesterday to get the public’s reaction to housing, local government and urban well-being minister’s comments about moving out of the city.

They were shown the video clip where he made those remarks, before being asked to elaborate on their thoughts and reactions to it.

The video clip which saw the Kota Belud MP ( above ) telling people to move out of the city to rural areas for the sake of urban well-being had been circulating on social media a few days ago.

In it, he was asked if more city dwellers might consider moving out of urban areas due to the rising cost of living.

“ Alhamdulillah . Reverse migration. That is what I want. Too many people are moving into the cities right now,” he said.

“The stresses to the urban systems like housing, hospitals, farming, traffic jams, pollution; all this will be eased off if people want to go back and plant corn and chilli in their kampung (village).

“If they want to migrate back to kampung, I will be the happiest urban well-being minister in the world,” he declared.

'Not a solution'

These were what the public had to say about Abdul Rahman’s comment on moving back to the kampung:

Rashid: “We are city people. Yes, we all came from kampung, but some of us are more suited to living in the city.”

“He (Abdul Rahman) shouldn’t have said that. You need to be more tactful, you know.”

“Those in the villages, they don’t think about becoming rich at all. Maybe that’s what the minister meant.”

Ms Wong: “(What he said) is not a solution. If you don’t have proper infrastructure, or good establishment in rural areas, even if people go back to their kampung, they still cannot find a proper job to earn a better living.”

“The ministry should be finding better solutions for the rakyat.”

Azimah Azif: “It’s difficult to say, 'just go back to your kampung'.

“Some of us already have children schooling here, our jobs. We have settled down here. To move back to the kampung just to avoid the rising cost of living, it’s not a suitable thing to say.”

'Irresponsible, unreasonable remark'

Louis Lai: “It’s a very irresponsible thing for him to say.”

“I tell you (Abdul Rahman), please go back to school and study for a few more years, and then think before you speak.”

Norazilah Abdullah: “It’s not reasonable to say go back to the village and plant corn. Who wants to eat corn only?”

“How much land is there in rural areas? The Malaysian population is already how many millions?”

Karen Chooi: “Of course, it’s not better (in rural areas). People have no choice, they have to come to a big town to work.”

“If everybody were to move back to rural areas, who are to do urban jobs?”

“This just shows that he is out of contact with the people, he doesn’t know what is going on.

“Maybe for him, he is earning a ministerial salary and driven around by a driver, he doesn’t know what we are going through.”

'Use your brains, YB'

Muhammad Joe Fadli: “When you speak, use your brains. Even though we are the lower class, we understand what is happening. A minister cannot speak like this to the people of Malaysia.”

“Nobody will listen to his advice. Most of the jobs are in the city, so people will continue to live in the city.”

Nurfirdaus Muhammad Fauzi: “It’s as if the minister spoke without using his brain. He’s not thinking of the rakyat’s struggle to live.”

“Everything has increased and this has greatly affected the lower class, not the upper class like them. Everything is easy for them, but the group that is suffering the most are those in the lower class.”

“Even if we were to move back to the kampung, even if you say the cost of living is low in rural areas, the prices of things have all increased and this affects the rural areas as well.”

Voxpop: Minister’s ‘balik kampung’ notion draws... oleh kinitv

STATEMENT OF CLARIFICATION

Malaysiakini refers to the claim brought by YB Datuk Haji Abdul Rahman Dahlan ("the Minister") against Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and one of its reporters, Geraldine Tong with respect to the VoxPop video that is in question in this claim and the article entitled "Minister's 'go back to kampung' notion draws contempt".

Malaysiakini accepts that the Voxpop video contained only excerpts of the Minister’s comments and as a consequence, the impugned publications did not give the full context of what was actually said by the Minister.

The excerpt was taken from a press conference held on 3 November 2015 in conjunction with the World Town Planning Day. In the press conference, we acknowledge that the Minister explained at length on matters concerning development of resilient cities - which was not limited to the "go back to kampung" remark alone - but also included financial crises, rising unemployment, reduced food and water supplies and turmoil and violence in society. Subsequently, the Minister had responded to the following question from a journalist:

["Dato', Dato' adakah disebabkan oleh kenaikan ini, so citizen atau orang-orang bandar ini akan berpindah ke kampung?"]

We acknowledge that the minister's response of "go back to kampung" was in direct reference to the assumption posed by the journalist.

The Minister also states that his speech given earlier gave actual context to his comments.

We understand that the publication had exposed the Minister to ridicule and portrayed him as someone callous and uncaring of the plight of the inner city society. This is regretted.

However, Malaysiakini believes we were simply reporting the views of members of the public when publishing the Voxpop video and Article in question.