In some ways it is. But in the grand scheme of things it doesn't cost that much more than a meal at a restaurant, and many people actually consume them as if durians were a meal

This comparison is highly skewed: In Malaysia, in part maybe also due to cheap labour, it is far more frequent and standard to go out to eat, a entire full course meal in a "restaurant" ("Mamak" stall) costs less than a pack of cigarettes/a can of beer.

So if you're comparing this to the European type of restaurant, much cheaper than you'd believe.

Source: Lived there when I was 7-16 years old.

EDIT: Because of Islam, a can of beer in Malaysia is more expensive, and costs the same/somewhat less than a pack of cigarettes.

I'm comparing against more... "proper"(?) restaurants actually, where it's normal to cost anything from RM30-RM50 for a meal.

P.S. I'm not belittling hawker food/budget food options, it's just when you go to restaurants I feel that you expect a certain level of hospitality, just like how you don't really call kebab joints restaurants in Europe?

Yeah, but you can see "Restauran" on many signs in Malaysia belonging to those hawker and mamak stalls, and they "own" that word in Malaysia.

Where in Europa (and I'm guessing in Northern America, too) you'd say you're going to a restaurant for dinner, you'd have to emphasize that fact in Malaysia that it would be an "uptown" joint.

I hadn't realized Durians were that expensive! Maybe I have the kilogram-price in my head, but I thought they were less than RM10...

But yeah, RM30-50 is normal, cheap I would think, for a "proper" restaurant in Malaysia. But I haven't been there since ~2013, and last lived there ~2006, and in the meantime, had the feeling that the RM lost buying power over the years...