Najib, Anwar take a dig at 'slice of economic cake' to expand economy

SHAH ALAM - Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak used the analogy of cake to expand the economy, stating if there are more slices of cake, the more "we can give it to the people".

"Economy is like the cake, if we make the cake bigger with additional investment, mega projects and such, we can give bigger slices to the people so that the people can benefit from it," Najib said during a live debate with Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Najib said by right there should be more projects so that more people will have "the slice of cake".

Najib warned against the continued selling of government assets under Pakatan Harapan era, such as buildings in foreign countries and shares as selling assets is like "selling the oven."

In Oct 2019, it was reported that Khazanah Nasional Berhad sold assets worth RM18.8b to pay debts, and channel into new investments.

However, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took a dig at Najib's cake analogy, stating "if you have the cake, don't eat it alone, but share equally to everyone, not just the elite."

This saw the crowd bursting into laughter during the debate.

Anwar further questioned who will be the one to decide who gets the slice of the economic cake. He asks if elites will end up carving the cake among themselves, citing P Ramlee movie ‘Nujum Pak Belalang’ where two robbers divide treasure among themselves.

Due to that, Anwar said integrity and good governance were crucial.