Patin Reprieve

The RM13,000 Patin Kerdau episode is a very, very fishy story.

First it was RM13,000 for 50, with the Bernama-sourced report going:

“According to one of the diners who did not wish to be identified, he had taken his friends to lunch at the restaurant which served kampung food, including freshwater fish, ulam (raw greens) and kampung vegetables.

He said after the meal, the restaurant owner handed him a bill of RM13,000, and he had no choice but to pay it.

"The bill came to about 260 per person, which was more expensive than eating at a six-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur!" he told Bernama.”

Suddenly a day later, the feasting crowd inflates to 350 and in one type of the key makes the bill all halal and kosher.

Again, the story was from Bernama:

“A diner who was reported to have paid a whopping RM13,000 for a patin meal at a restaurant here recently, today said the bill was reasonable as it was for 300 to 350 people and not 50 as reported.

He said the menu for the lunch held after the naming of candidates for the Kerdau state seat by-election, included the prized river patin and krai fish dishes, udang galah (freshwater prawns) and several other dishes.

"The total bill came to about RM13,000, or less than RM40 per person, which is reasonable as we ate the rare river patin which is costly, and not patin from the farms," he said.”

Weird, ain’t it?

Two stories. Same Bernama reporter, same diner, same “friends“, same meal?

Two VERBATIM quotes, mind you. Not paraphrased, ie. there’s no “I was misunderstood / misread / misrepresented” bullshit escape here.

It’s quite a (hilarious in fact) spectacle to see such a flipping and flopping of statements.

What gives, Mr Diner, Sir? A late afternoon indignant phone call, perhaps?

I shouldn't be so surprised about the whole thing especially since the (must be a heck-of-a) meal is political in nature.

The Malaysian political scene of late has been throwing us a lot of not-easily digestible, erm, “news” so I suppose the Patin story is pretty passé, eh?

Me? Got the heebeegeebees when I saw the amount of blood from a Patin (reared, of course) being processed for the pot.

So, whether its RM260 or RM40 per pax, I’ll take a rain check.