A recent video caught the attention of netizens after a Malaysian influencer claimed that raising a child only costs RM1,700.
In the interview, the automotive social media personality, Kakak Saga, said that it’s possible with careful spending, sharing that she once spent less than RM100 a month when her child was still a baby.
“Are you calling me a bad mother?”
Kakak Saga explained that breastfeeding, buying diapers in bulk, and making use of kampung (village) resources can easily help cut down expenses.
The video, however, drew backlash, prompting her to respond on Facebook.
In her post, she said many netizens didn’t watch the full video and stressed that she was only sharing her personal experience.
“Are you calling me a bad mother and saying poor people don’t deserve to have kids? You didn’t even watch the full video,” she wrote.
“RM100 really can go a long way”
Kakak Saga later hit back, saying she only shared her story after being asked whether poor people deserve to have children.
“That’s why I spoke about my own experience, to show that it’s possible. Unlike you, I don’t only make friends with rich people, so of course you’d have that kind of thinking.”
She added that many people she knows earn around Malaysia’s minimum wage of RM1,700, yet they still manage to raise children in stable, loving homes.
“For me, RM100 really can go a long way with diapers. In the interview, I said RM100 could get me two packs, one pack costs RM48, size M, 48 pieces. Two to three packs a month were enough back then. You questioned if I had even given birth because I only used two packs, so how many packs would be ‘acceptable’ to you? Now, I get two packs for RM40 each, and I usually need four packs a month.”
She pushed back against the idea that pricey formula milk automatically means better growth, questioning if a child’s health really depends on how much you spend.
Sharing from her own experience, she pointed out that living in a kampung helps cut costs thanks to homegrown food and self-sufficiency.
“At my grandma’s place, we’d catch chickens and pick vegetables to eat. That’s just how kampung life is. Why buy things when you can produce them yourself? You live in the city, so you don’t get it. In the kampung, a lot of things don’t cost money, but you do need to put in effort and time. You accused me of freeloading off my family, staying in their house and eating their food. Sorry to disappoint you, but I have my own home, and I’ve been paying for it for eight years now.”
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