Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Malaysia Boleh!

A fifth of a million Ringgit.
Not to fund a medical student. Or feed several families. Or aid a disaster.
WTF??? Tutankhamun himself would turn over in his grave.
Anyway. The Star published my letter. But they obviously thought I was too long-winded (hey, I was irritated, ok?).
My original below:
I don't have anything against wanting to put Malaysia on the map. However, I fail to see how spending RM200,000 on a flag to drape the pyramids would show to the world anything other than how we like to waste resources and show off.
Believe me, I consider myself a patriot, but to me this is yet another attempt to show off 'Malaysia Boleh' without a specific goal.
Perhaps some would consider a fifth of a million Ringgit a small sum of money, but think about how that could fund education, or feed how many families.
Stunts like these, or having the longest this or tallest that, would no more produce 'towering Malaysians' than a scholarship to educate the truly deserving, the academically talented but poor student.
Perhaps only to fool ourselves, despite our driving habits, rude customer service, inefficient public services, that we are towering over other countries.
And to think that my family's taxpayer dollars are funding this!