And as usual, his knowledge about Malaysia surpasses all other Malaysians alike.
Honestly I am ashamed of being a Malaysians and do not know all these even having an internet line in my room.
Malaysian political tension simmers with Indian flavour
With this cash I thee wed: here comes the bribe.
He knew that the UMNO General Assembly did not pause for Deepavali, which is a public holiday. This is outrageous and downright rude! I didn’t know that.
He knew that Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak, had amassed huge fortune for him to be able to buy a bank in Malaysia and Hilton Hotel in Adelaide. I didn’t know that.
Well I’m proud that even though us Malaysians do not have enough knowledge of what is happening in Malaysia, somebody in foreign land who is not even a Malaysian citizen can know more.
And to top it off, read his interview in our dear uncle’s blog: Lim Kit Siang:
Michael Backman – most wasteful projects in Malaysia.
Thanks dude. Now I know more about my dear country.
P/s: I received several remarks and labels stating that I am not wise, anti-establishment, immature, etc regarding this post. May I remind you that the above is my opinion. And Michael’s opinion. Opinions differs from facts from certain angles, mainly opinions are thoughts that are generated from facts. Opinions are debatable, facts are not.
So when I say my opinion is A, you can’t say A is wrong, because everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. You must say “my opinion is B, because (insert reason here).” This is the mature way to debate, the mature way to discuss. Like adults.
It’s better than just saying “you’re immature” or “you’re anti-establishments” or “you have a backward mentality”. Write your opinion in your blog, or this comment for all I care.
By attacking me and giving me labels actually shows how immature and childish you are. And of course, emotional. When you’re emotional you’re irrational. And I certainly won’t discuss with irrational adults, let alone irrational kids.
I can tell you why am I having these opinion, if you ask me nicely. 
Me too..
Imagine if Malaysia doesn’t produce our own national car, Proton… imagine if we don’t have the KLIA and still stick with Sepang Airport as the International Airport.. imagine if KLCC has got only 5 little lift shafts, or imagine if there ain’t any KLCC at all.. how about not having any intelligent cities like Putrajaya and Cyberjaya……… what a boring country Malaysia will be. There’s practically little to be proud of our country.
No Sorry, but I’m not following. And I’m not sure I want to anyway. I respect some of Backman’s writings… but sometimes he’s a bit too exaggerating in the negatives. Those are not just wasteful projects. Those are the projects that are bringing Malaysia closer to a fully developed country… Those are the things that are making us proud to be Malaysians. Those are the things that are inspiring our younger generations to be grateful being born in Malaysia.
What a backward mentality to think that we shouldn’t have done all those things.
~ you are saying we should buy big houses and big cars when we have the money even though our sons and daughters, relatives and cousins still can’t even afford a car. you are saying we should buy big houses even though we don’t use all the rooms in it. you are saying we should spend a lot to make us appear developed.
as backman said, thailand and indonesia had left us behind in terms of GDP and other measuring scales.
do they have all these mega projects to start with? do they even bother with the so-called “proud-project” to make them proud of their country?
singapore have all the money to build the tallest building too. check out singapore’s investment arm temasek holding, and compare it with our country’s khazanah. does it even bother to build the tallest building in the world in the first place?
singapore doesn’t have cyberjaya. but why do all the foreign investors, news agency like CNN, REUTERS, BBC etc fought to put their regional headquarters in singapore even though we have so-called intelligent city cyberjaya? isn’t it much wiser for them to place them in malaysia in the heart of cyberjaya?
why, don’t you think why? because it is useless. that’s why.
now before you label me as having “backward mentality” and perhaps anti-establishment you should sit and think if the government should correct its corruption index or increases domestic production before investing blindly in tallest building, smartest city, etc etc etc. almost (note that i said almost. the sepang project worked well) all of the projects are unnecessary anyways. it’s only for, like you say, the pride. before pride comes intellectuals and functional purpose, this is where malaysia should fix first before going for the pride, IMHO.
By the way putrajaya is not an intelligent city. it’s an administrative city, much akin Washington. Kuala Lumpur is not short of office buildings and office space for the whole government servants to be relocated to another place. it’s just another “pride-project”, like you say, another excuse to waste money.
waste money, i repeat, waste money and let it flow to cronies companies. but of course if you are in any way related to the cronies companies, i would love all the extra flow too.
elops…misz arg kat bro….huhuhu…sajer jer tgh borink ler…anyway 4 paper dah abis next week sumer killer sub…wish me luck k??? doakan semoger kiter bejmp du ukraine…huhuhuhu..
Your analogy is incorrect. Buying big cars and big houses are for personal benefit only, while building cities like Putrajaya and Cyberjaya is for everyone’s benefit – beneficial to the country as a whole. I won’t mind spending more for the benefit of my childrens if I have more money. It is like building smart schools – they may be a bit expensive, but still they are beneficial to our children. Would you say that the government are wasting money for building smart schools? I hope not. The mega projects are built for the betterment of our country, not the other way around.
You need to understand that we are not trying to “appear” developed (I wonder where you get that idea from anyway, i dont remember saying that). I’m saying that we SHOULD BE developing. Cyberjaya, KLIA, KLCC, Sepang Circuit, KL Sentral, etc etc.. those are real developments that are happening in our country. We don’t build them because of pride (again, I dont remember saying that). We are building them because the country needs to be developed & improved… and we are proud because our country is actually developing. You might need to re-think again about the whole “build for pride” talk, because obviously, that’s not the whole point about developments. We pursue towards establishments and that’s exactly what we are supposed to support more of instead of bashing them up (backward mentality?). Developments are not just wasting money. Those are real money put to good use.
The real “waste” of money is not about mega projects done in this country (by all means do more of them, I pay my taxes for that), but it is about all the outrageous corruptions that are happening in our country right now. Billions and billions of money being laundered and corrupted not for research or development of our nation, but for the luxuries of the corrupted leaders (ain’t paying my taxes for that
). Cronies in itself is not a problem (if they have what it takes to take up a project, go ahead), but the problem is when they quote 10 billion dollars for a 3 billion dollars worth of project, and being approved without any question.
That is, my friend, what wasting money, I repeat, wasting money is all about. Money thats gone for individual’s benefit instead of used for the country’s benefit.
~
1) i mistook your comment for “pride” when you begin your previous comment like this:
“if there ain’t any KLCC at all.. how about not having any intelligent cities like Putrajaya and Cyberjaya……… what a boring country Malaysia will be. There’s practically little to be proud of our country.”
meaning, you would only want those projects because you would want to feel proud of our country. correct? proud = pride. pride projects. i really don’t know how to explain it to you anymore if you fail to understand this.
2) when i say cars and big houses, i do not literally mean cars and big houses. those are metaphors. we buy big house, when we don’t need it, and big cars even though our relatives still do not own a car.
3) your talk is all theoretical. when i reply, i reply with facts. did you answer my question about why CNN, REUTERS, BBC etc refuse to place their regional headquarters in Cyberjaya even though it is an “intelligent city”? Now a good rational CEO would place their company in Cyberjaya because of its smart-status. but why don’t they put their offices in Malaysia? Because it is only efficient in theory, not practical. Like your comments, it is very good in theory, but not practical.
4) i understand fully about the concept of corruption. but when you say cronies are ok even if they have what it takes, i refuse to agree. they are still subjected to open tenders and be chosen according to their qualification.
5) you say “go ahead with mega projects” because “it’s your tax-money” and you’re ok with it. for me, i would like to see my tax money being spent in functional projects, not only non-functional mega projects.
6) please answer the rationale of having putrajaya when KL is not short of office space. please answer why Temasek Holdings and other nation’s investment arms do not go all-out in having mega projects like Malaysia, even though they have more money than us.
7) i’m sorry about having mis perception of malaysia having mega-projects to appear “developed”. but i wonder, singapore doesn’t has all those mega-projects, still it is much developed than us. what do you have to say to this?
afidze suke bace nie ! another sure fire winter smash,! best-best
~ tsk tsk tsk bestnyer kalau sume ni hanyalah fantasi then i guess malaysia is in a better shape!! :p
broe..
first.. define “developed”…
perhaps you would understand why ’singa’pore is perceived as more developed than ‘malay’sia
being a developed nation is not only measured by the number of monuments and wonders
~ developed – dah maju lar kot? tapi maju tu subjective jugak actually. and some people perceive being developed with icons – tall structures, mega projects. some people perceive being developed with the GDP scale. entah lah. complicated.