KUCHING: Valentine’s Day is a day which has been very much abused, opined Assistant Minister of Youth Development Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“I said ‘abused’ because this Valentine’s Day has been commercialised too much by hotels, restaurants, flower shops, gift shops etc,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
“On this day, prices of certain products usually associated with Valentine’s Day like roses suddenly shoot up sky high,” he added.
Karim, who is also Asajaya assemblyman, pointed out that if we love someone, expression of love should be done all year round.
“It should not be limited to just Feb 14 but because of the media and business promotion and outlook on Valentine’s Day it makes it look like we have failed as lovers,“ he lamented.
“In actual fact, the ones who really benefit from all this are the promoters of Valentine’s Day,” he said.
He hoped that Malaysians would be sensible enough to evaluate all this nonsense about Valentine’s Day as he believed that it would just benefit the business community who would took the opportunity to make quick profits.
“If you love someone, expression of love should be everyday not just limited to Valentine’s Day,” he said. Meanwhile in the city, vendors are taking this once-a-year opportunity to make money by erecting tents and stalls for selling flowers mainly roses and cuddly toys such as teddy bears and cards to passers-by.
A survey by The Borneo Post revealed that a stalk of rose flower now fetches a price of RM15 while on normal days it is probably half of that amount.