Burning Money

I'm not trying to be rude or insensitive but what I'm going to write must be taken with an open mind,otherwise don't bother reading it. Today marks a week to the day of our beloved First Lady's passing. And still we can see condolences advertisements in the newspapers today. How much money is being spent on these advertisements? Wouldn't the money be better spent on development projects or to help the elderly, poor or needy? Better still to further the late First Lady's causes such as cancer research and awareness, and cultural recognition and preservation.

Why is crazy money spent just for these condolences advertisements? Just imagine how much money has been burnt just for them to 'show their concern'. It's just full of crap, I tell you. That's just money down the drain that could have been put to good use. It is even worse when state governments take up advertisement space just to say thank you or make a festive wish. Is public funds being used for that purpose? Are we paying to say Happy Merdeka to ourselves? Even if public funds were not used for the advertisements, a donation to an orphanage or hospital or old folk's home would have been a better option for those ever-so-eager-to-impress-politicians.

The path that should have been taken instead would be that of the family of the late Toh Kim Eng that requested for wellwishers not to send wreaths or take out condolence advertisements but to channel the money to an education fund to be named after Toh instead. In this case, at least the money is put to good use for years to come and will benefit those in need of the financial assistance and not just fill the coffers of those media corporations.

Talking about media corporations, what's with them tailing the Prime Minister and reporting his every emotion? He is just human and obviously going through a rollercoaster of emotions at the moment, so why depict him as this and that?!? Isn't it normal for him to show some emotions? He is afterall human, no? Now the media is even capitalising on the PM's loss?!? Unbelievable!!!

Other money burning issues that irks me are the horrible 'beautification' projects such as the obscene Jalan Udini roundabout, upgrading of Gurney Drive, Taman Tiram and others. The magic number for each of these projects? RM300,000!!! Arghh...why can't they just do simple, cheap and nice beautification projects like that found at the Jalan Macalister/Jalan Codrington/Lebuhraya Peel/Jalan Residensi junction? Beautifully landscaped islands with some water feature to cool your senses. Will those in the public service ever realise their folly? Will they ever snap from their denial and listen to the public for once? Forgive me for my lack of enthusiasm regarding this issue...