KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 -- American political commentator Bill O'Reilly has doubled down on his controversial remark that South-east Asia "has no money", responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's criticism by claiming that Malaysians "can't afford to buy a small hat without starving."

In his latest YouTube video, the 75-year-old journalist countered Anwar's criticism of him and maintained that Malaysians do not have the purchasing power to buy China-made products.

O'Reilly claimed that the Malaysian household per capita income stands at US$5,731 (RM25,110) a year, compared to the United States at US$42,220.

He suggested that this would make it hard for Malaysians to even buy a small hat from China as the US household per c...