Billions of Ringgit...Gone to Waste

I don't know if you realise it , but our government has wasted many billions of ringgit over the years on unnecessary projects which have not really gained much profit in any way since their construction . Lets not forget that the billions of ringgit is the money of tax payers ( your money ) .

For example , last year we sent the first Malaysian into outer space . Just into outer space . Not even to the moon which was done by Neil Armstrong in 1966 . Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was sent into outer space to just 'lepak' (hang around) there for ten days . This "feat" was not even done with our own technology . We had to pay the Russians to send him to space . Moreover , many countries before us has achieved this such as America , Russia , China , France , Germany , India , Afghanistan , Japan , Israel & the list goes on and on . You can see the full list on http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/nation_names.htm . Malaysia is just another country added to that long list . Our prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that this feat would put Malaysia on the world map..but he forgot that Malaysia was already famous thanks to our former prime minister Tun Mahathir . After the "great feat" , what have we gained ?...just some headlines in the local newspapers & small articles in the foreign newspapers under the world news section . Has Malaysia done any other further space research development of any kind after the "feat" ?...No...There goes RM95 million of our hard earned money . The bad news..we lost big bucks..The good news..Russia earned big bucks & Dr Muszaphar got a free trip to space .

Another precious project of ours is the Petronas Twin Towers . It was the world's tallest building from 1998-2004..a mere 6 years . This record was beaten by the Taipei 101 which is in Taiwan . The Taipei 101 also lost that record and that record was held by a few other buildings over the years...& today our twin towers is the 6th tallest building in the world . Now the Petronas Twins Towers is just another 'lepak' spot & a shopping mall specifically for the filthy rich & has a few offices of not-so-famous companies . Yet hardly anybody shops there as the prices are sky-high & most people do their shopping in supermarkets like Carrefour , Jusco & Tesco . Even for the expensive stuff , most people buy them in places like Megamall , One Utama , Sunway Pyramid & Berjaya Times Square . Hardly any tourists go there either . I don't think many of them would want to see the 6th tallest building in the world...do you ?..Well , it's only RM 1.8 billion down the drain .

Then there is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) . It might be very high tech & a very nice building to look at from the outside...but inside , it's half empty . This airport was built to replace the Subang Airport . There was nothing wrong with the Subang Airport in the first place . It was only a bit smaller...but it was way more convenient for the public to access as it was way nearer then the KLIA..The KLIA is ironically not even in KL , it's in Sepang which is under the state of Selangor . Today KLIA is the main international airport of Malaysia while a small part of the Subang airport is handling a few local flights , the rest of the building has been left to rot . Was a airport so huge , so high tech & so far away from KL necessary while the Subang airport was doing so well ? I guess we can kiss the RM 8.8 billion spent on constructing it goodbye .

Many billions of Ringgit were also wasted on Putrajaya and Cyberjaya . Putrajaya is just a big piece of land where all the government administrative buildings were transfered to from KL . Whereas Cyberjaya is the "silicon valley" of Malaysia . These two places are actually ghost cities . There are hardly any people there . So much of land has been wasted due to the buildings built so far apart from each other as if one is if one is in a dessert . One of the reasons these two places ended up as failed projects was because they lack schools or colleges to pursue their education . The prices of houses there are also very high..but the main reason is because these places do not have access to public transport..which means its impossible to take public transport like trains or buses to travel to and from KL . Therefore hardly anybody goes to Putajaya or Cyberjaya except the ministers . With all the tolls and high fuel prices..who would want to go there anyway ? There goes RM 60 billion .

Another waste is Proton and the almost built High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in Brickendonbury, Britain..but I'll write about that in a separate article . All this money flushed down the toilet could have been used for so many other better purposes..such as improving public transport and healthcare facilities , upgrading and renovating highly populated places like Chow Kit , Petaling Street and Brickfields , helping the poor , provide better facilities for the disabled , reduce crime crates , used the money to give out more scholarships to deserving students and even t0 subsidise the price of fuel..maybe then Malaysians would have been able to enjoy cheaper fuel prices for a little while longer .

I hope the government will not waste the money of the people on useless projects anymore and realise that it's unnecessary to create the biggest , tallest or most expensive projects in the world unless they are really beneficial and needed by the public . No doubt that these projects has made Malaysia famous , but they didn't have to be built on such a extravagant scale . To bad these projects were not planned out properly . Or else Malaysia could have saved quite a bit of money .