NURUL Hidayah Ahmad Zahid has become the subject of ridicule and anger among netizens after denying the seriousness of period poverty in Malaysia and claiming that menstrual pads do not cost a lot.
She made the remarks on social media in dismissing claims that women were resorting to getting pregnant in order to avoid periods for nine months because they could not afford menstrual pads.
“I am aware alert about it (sic). But not in Malaysia. Where are the high menstrual pad prices? I do research on pads and I launched a menstrual pad brand so I [would] know,” she said in response to a comment on Instagram.
She further claimed that period poverty issue in Malaysia is not as severe as in other countries such as India due to assistance from various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and zakat centres.
“The Malaysian population is not as many as India (sic). Why do we want to look back? We should take examples from progressive countries and not those kinds of countries (India). Move forward not backward,” she said.
Period poverty is generally known as the lack of access to menstrual products, knowledge on menstruation or hygiene facilities.
Among others, Twitter users criticised Nurul Hidayah for saying that menstrual pads do not cost a lot, seeing as to how she has had a privileged upbringing.
“To you definitely cheap la. Your father even bought you a Bali hotel. You don’t even need to earn your own money,” said user @rena_rc.
User @Shamree8 echoed this sentiment, pointing out that not everybody in the country is ‘loaded’.
User @KimTiger5 wondered if people like Nurul Hidayah were living in the clouds. “It’s obvious that there are people who are [living] in poverty in Malaysia, hence the period poverty. What kind of bullsh*t is this? Shame on you. Shame on you,” the user tweeted.
On Nurul Hidayah’s comparison between the period poverty situation in Malaysia and India, user @nr_q|13 wondered what had the former done to understand period poverty.
Meanwhile, user @tenoq pointed out that the problem was more than meets the eye.
“UMNO has systematically enriched the wealthy capitalist class and enabled the concentration of wealth and power among the ruling elite, and the domino effect of class/wage stagnancy is poverty,” the user wrote.
“Period poverty is merely the symptom of a much deeper problem with our laws.” – Nov 3, 2021
