Auditor-general's report be damned

Remember last year's auditor-general's report on government contracts and procurements for over-priced computers and furniture? a set of jacks for many times more than what you can buy off the shelf? Well, now how about a defence contract worth over RM8 billion tentatively to be awarded to a local company (DRB-Hicom BHd's wholly-owned unit Deftech) for 257 armored personnel carriers (APCs) priced at around RM31.12 million each APC, which is about 6 times more expensive than an American make or about 3 times more expensive than a German-Dutch make? Yaaaay! we can afford it! And we can build our very own too! It's ok that they cost several times more than tried-and-tested APCs available in the open market, cos what's important is we be self-sufficient, right? who cares about comparative advantages or our lack of it as such? We have our own national car already, now let's start on the big bucks department, military hardware and equipment! Hmmm, if we bought it for say a third of RM8 billion, we'd save about, say conservatively estimated, over RM5 billion? RM5 billion would buy a heck lot of schools, hospitals, public services, right? Naaaaaah! Let's just throw money around like it's going out of fashion. after all, there's lots lots lots more where that came from. Auditor-General's report be damned.

We are Malaysians so beware!

Once again when asked though email correspondence where i am from, i answer "Malaysia". It's funny how when you meet people online and tell them that you're from Malaysia they suddenly lose all further interest to interact with you or maybe that's just the impression i always get. Malaysians cannot, from Malaysia, buy stuff from ebay in USA or used books, cds from USA because of credit card fraud issues. Malaysians over-stay in Britain and work illegally there and in other countries such as Japan, USA, Australia. Malaysian Chinese make up over 98% of all over-stayers in Britain. Is it any wonder that people are afraid when we tell them that we're Malaysians? Our leaders until very recently have the habit of always pissing off the West in general and Israel in particular. The most wanted Al Qaeda-linked terrorist network in South East Asia was led by a Malaysian who was shot dead by Indonesian police recently. When i travel abroad and use my credit card i have no problems at all with fraudulent charges or card fraud. Back home my direct debit card has been ripped off after i used it at a supermarket. I ask myself why do we do these things. Why do we go overseas and do really bad things, things that we would not do at home because we know we'll suffer the consequences. The bad publicity we get is all of our own doing. Nobody is out to bad lip us. No one is out to especially get Malaysia or Malaysians in general. If we have a bad rap it is because of our bad record and we deserve it. It's not a bum rap. Why must Malaysians travel all the way to UK to work in some dingy restaurant when there are plenty of job opportunities back home? Why must we do all sorts of stupid hare-brained things from drugs mule-ing to people trafficking to credit card fraud and besmirch our reputation abroad? And while all of these things are happening the newspapers back home paint a glowing picture of "Malaysia truly Asia" and how we all live in harmony. Race-baiting, self-serving politicians, corrupt cops, corruption from the bottom to the top are all part and parcel of everyday life in Malaysia. I know it, you know it, anybody with half a brain knows it. But so many of us are still in denial mode. It's tragic. It's sad. When can we be honest and look at ourselves in the mirror and say: "Look, this shit has gone on far enough. Stop it. No more from hereon. I'm watching you."