According to Finance Twitter , one 7-ounce (201-gram) avocado provides 41% of the daily value of folate (also known as vitamin B9), which helps produce healthy red blood cells. Avocado is also high in fiber and vitamins C, E and K, not to mention potassium, copper and vitamin B6. Eating avocado regularly reduces total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol while increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
One avocado offers nearly 30% of the daily value of potassium and almost 20% of the daily value of magnesium. Potassium in avocados helps reduce blood pressure. The fruit also prevents diabetes, promotes digestion, absorbs more antioxidants, increases brain function, protects eyes and even has anti-cancer properties. Eating two or more servings of avocado weekly could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Salmon, meanwhile, is a nutrient-rich fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and various vitamins and minerals. Omega-3 fats are considered “essential,” meaning you must get them from your diet since your body cannot create them. The fatty acids can help reduce inflammation in arteries, lower cholesterol, improve blood pressure, as well as reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
Consuming at least two servings of salmon per week can help you meet your omega-3 fatty acid needs. Salmon is also a great source of vitamin D, which is critical for calcium absorption and building strong bones – potentially preventing osteoporosis. Additionally, salmon is a good source of vitamin B12, selenium, and potassium, which are essential for various bodily functions.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes – known as the “three highs” – are three chronic conditions that significantly increase the risk of stroke. Meaning if you have any one of the three highs, the risk factor of getting a stroke will increase. And if you have three of them, you’re hitting the jackpot. Clearly, avocado and salmon are essential food and fruit for everyone.
But how many amongst 34 million Malaysians can afford at least two servings of avocado and salmon weekly? Avocado and salmon prices, however, are high due to a combination of strong demand and limited supply factors. It doesn’t help that the substitutes for avocados (olive oil, nuts, salmon, chia seeds) and salmon (trout, mackerel, cod) aren’t cheap either.
When Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says the expansion of SST (sales and services tax) on imported fruit is all about taxing rich people who eat food like avocados and cod, he has absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Already beyond reach of ordinary people, the food that could prevent stroke becomes more expensive with a new 5% tax.
Worse, in his attempt to justify the tax regime to suck more money from the people, Anwar deliberately hides the fact that the 5% tax will also apply to all imported fruit, including apples and oranges, which lower-income groups tend to buy. Did he realize that even local fruits like banana, watermelon, papaya, rambutan, guava, let alone durian, are horribly expensive?
Mr Anwar, who is also the finance minister, was trying to hoodwink the people that he was a so-called caring leader by attacking avocado, cod and salmon as the privilege food of the “Maha Kaya” (rich man’s food) in order to bulldoze his unpopular policy. Even if he wanted to declare war on the poor avocado, he should not discriminate against apple and orange.
In Malaysia, stroke treatment can range from RM35,000 to RM75,000, while coronary artery bypass surgery (heart bypass) can cost up to RM70,000 (treatment costs are more affordable in public hospitals). In fact, stroke or cerebrovascular disease is Malaysia’s third leading cause of death. The annual cost of stroke management in Malaysia is estimated to be over RM213 million.
But the real nightmare is the long term cost. The projected lifetime economic burden for stroke patients diagnosed in Malaysia in 2016 alone was about US$1.36 billion (RM6.23 billion). The medical condition occurs when there is a blocked artery leading to reduced blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain (ischaemic stroke) or burst blood vessel (haemorrhagic stroke).
The first nightmare after you are diagnosed with stroke is the swift action of the government hospital in “discharging” you under the pretext of lack of beds. Subsequent nightmares will fall on stroke patients and their families – including the costs related to disability and long-term care (such as rehabilitation and nursing care), logistics (mileage and parking), meals, and health aids and equipment.
But it was not only a financial burden on stroke survivors and their caregivers. Mental health challenges often arise – including depression, anxiety, and emotional distress for both the individual affected by the stroke as well as family members. Heck, it could break a family relationship apart when cost sharing or caregiving distribution causes disagreement and argument.
The Galen Centre’s White Paper on stroke estimated that there are more than 40,000 strokes in the country every year. If consuming avocados and salmons could prevent just 10% of them, at least 4,000 stroke cases could be avoided. Adding salt to injury, PM Anwar had just increased the minimum wage to RM1,700 per month, effective February 1, 2025, making nursing care more expensive.
Exactly where is Anwar’s compassion for the 34 million average people, after having lectured people to have compassion for a crook called Najib Razak after the former prime minister’s jail sentence was halved to 6 years and fine reduced to RM50 million from RM210 million? So, the Madani PM can generously forgive Najib’s RM160 million, but is determined to slap 5% on avocado costing RM7 a piece?
Avocado is punished for being the fruit of “Maha Kaya”, but Najib is rewarded for being the Malay of “Maha Elite”. What had avocado done to Anwar that he is so spiteful and hateful towards the fruit which could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and reduce blood pressure? Of course, for the multi-millionaire prime minister, he wouldn’t feel any financial pain even if he consumes avocado and salmon every day.
Instead of fixing the skyrocketing medical insurance cost, which had gone up as much as 147%, the incompetent and clueless premier has chosen to deny the accessibility of healthy fruits and food by imposing unnecessary taxes. Avocado and salmon aren’t toxic like sugar or beer, and they are certainly not luxury brands like BMW, Louis Vuitton or Hermes Birkin.
Anwar should instead subsidise avocado or salmon for its long-term health benefits. Imports of avocado in Malaysia were valued at almost US$15 million (RM63.6 million) in 2023. In the same year, the imports of frozen Pacific salmon were valued at US$7.76 million (RM33 million). In comparison, Anwar government allocated RM2 billion for JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia).
For Anwar to declare a war on avocado and salmon just so that the government could collect an extra RM4.83 million taxes, but blindly gave away RM2 billion to JAKIM to spread radical Islamization and racism is both pathetic and flabbergasting. Even a 5% tax on imported RM454 million worth of tropical fruits, translating to RM23 million, pales compared to RM100 million he donated to Hamas terrorists.
If the premier is really serious about taxing the super rich, he can easily increase taxes on non-essential luxury brands like Coach, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Bvlgari, Cartier, Tissot, Montblanc, Breitling, Maurice Lacroix, Habib, Tomei, Tiffany & Co, Prada, Rolex, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Jaguar, Audi and the list goes on.
More importantly, previous governments were compassionate enough not to burden the poor with crazy taxes such as the one imposed by Anwar. At the rate he is expanding the SST to collect money from the people, it’s a matter of time before SST can be renamed as GST, the unpopular “Goods and Services Tax” regime introduced by Najib that had backfired and triggered downfall of the Barisan Nasional government.
Source : Finance Twitter
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