He said they should take the report by the international body seriously.

“It was not done by the opposition but by qualified academics,” he said in a press conference at the media centre in Parliament today.

He was commenting on Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman’s remarks which put the blame on parents for being ignorant about nutritious food for their children.

Razif had also said affordability was not the cause of stunted growth among children in the state.

Raja Bahrin said if that was true, the problem could be easily resolved as the state government had enough money and manpower to create awareness among parents.

He was referring to the report by Unicef, which stated that 26% of youngsters below five were facing stunted growth in Terengganu.

He said this was shocking as Terengganu received a budget of RM2 billion a year for a population of one million compared with Selangor, which had a lower budget of RM1.6 billion for a population of five million.

The Kuala Terengganu MP also slammed Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid for being sceptical about the report, especially Malaysia’s unfavourable comparison to Ghana.

Mahdzir said he had not received any reports from schools or teachers regarding hungry children.

However, Raja Bahrin said this showed that Mahdzir was out of touch with reality, as Malaysia no longer had the same standing on the global stage while many African countries such as the Ivory Coast and Senegal were well on the road to development.

Why so many stunted children in oil-rich Terengganu, asks MP