This is according to Perak DAP economic development bureau chief Chong Zhemin and Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (Samm)'s propaganda director Edy Noor Reduan.
They both agreed the government should respond to the deeper issue of the cost of living, rather than try to blame Chinese opposition members for the public joke.
"There is only one man that could stop the Kangkung fiasco, which is (Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak himself. Will Najib finally step up and tackle the core issue of price hikes which is of great concern to all Malaysians?" Chong said in a statement.
Najib and other BN ministers went into damage control mode in the last week after his remarks that the government earned "no thanks for the drop in kangkung prices" drew widespread parody on the internet.
Later, Najib said he was misunderstood and only used the popular and cheap kangkung as an example of how market forces determine food commodity prices.
But Chong said the BN government was missing the point.
Instead of hoping the joke would go away, BN government needs to recognise what "Kangkung" really symbolises.
For the DAP man, "Kangkung" reflects the public anger over rising cost of living, the government's inaction and inability to tackle this, and Najib's attempt to downplay the issue.
"Why do ordinary Malaysians have to tighten their belts due to BN mismanagement and lavish spending while BN top officers continue their extravagant overseas trips?" Chong asked.
‘Kangkung flashmobs’
In a separate statement, Samm's Edy charged that it was the government that has undermined its own 1Malaysia campaign with failure to control price hikes.
"All Malaysians have become involved in hyping the "kangkung parody" that started on the social media, and Samm doesn't rule out that it may soon translate into flashmobs. The trend is finally getting worldwide attention.
'For Umno bloggers who accuse that kangkung flashmobs only involve the Chinese race... do you want to see 1Malaysia do a "flashmob kangkung" after this? We believe it can be done and many parties will eagerly participate."
Videos about Najib's remark went viral and it was even picked up as a trending news item by international broadcaster BBC.
Its article "#BBCtrending: Be careful what you say about spinach" drew so many clicks that internet users complained that they could not access it after a while.
This raised suspicions that the government through Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), had clamped down visits to the BBC site for political reasons.
"Is MCMC trying to cover up? Instead of attempting to sweep the matter under the carpet, we urge MCMC to come out clean and explain the incident in an honest manner," said DAP social media strategist and state assemblyperson for Damansara Utama Yeo Bee Yin (right) in a statement.
MCMC has however denied any such actions.
“MCMC, the industry regulator, has not blocked nor instructed any internet service providers in Malaysia to block the BBC’s online report,” MCMC official Sheikh Raffie Abdul Rahman said in a statement.
“Based on our initial assessment, the report was accessible to users of the internet. We understand that there could have been some temporary difficulties in accessing it, but at the time of this statement this disruption has been resolved.
“Furthermore, we have not received any official complaints from the public regarding difficulty in accessing the report," he added.
MCMC also denied reports that quoted it as saying “various Malaysian service providers could have acted on their own accord”.
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