Thursday, June 10, 2010

Luxury Zoo For Monkeys... Is it Necessary?


Credit to Dato' Muhammad Arshad Raji for his posting... I also feel that we don't need a new Parliament Building but we really need a new government as per Capt's Longhouse.

I would invite readers to answer this question especially those in malay political party but still using English name but "kecoh" on national language.

  • Does RM800 million new parliament building satu keperluan atau satu kemahuan? Please state your reason wisely.

At a time when the nation is struggling with its ‘book-keeping’, talks of relocating the Parliament House to Putra Jaya is abuzz that will cost the government an estimated RM800 million. At least Khairy Jamaludin is sensible enough to break ranks, and to disagree with the proposal which he says the money can be used for more beneficial purposes; I suppose that to mean people oriented purposes.

It puzzles me to hear the millions to be used, with zeroes keeps adding at every new project. Where on earth do we get the money now, and from what I gather from friends working in the various ministries, their operating expenditure has been drastically curtailed? I was told by a school teacher recently that even duplicating papers are running short with some teachers having to buy papers from their own pocket. Schools with a filthy rich PIBG will have no problem of course, but is this the responsibility of PIBG?

The existing Parliament House is a historical landmark with its fine and well manicured garden that is prominently perched on a hill overlooking the city and with lots of greenery around it. It also proudly displays its deer stock that roams freely within an enclosed compound. What is wrong if the parliament building is renovated to accommodate a larger gallery to cater for an anticipated increase in the number of MPs? All these renovation works will not take up RM800 million. And my other concern is the fondness of the government to change something that is working well, and several millions have been used up for major renovations works over the last few years; of course not forgetting for the leaking episode. And does building a new Parliament House got anything to do with this country being a developed nation by 2020?

Rather than move Parliament House, why not think of moving Mindef to Putra Jaya instead, and the present complex be taken up entirely by the Armed Forces, thus giving some breathing space for the Armed Forces. At the present moment the complex is not Mindef per se, but it is also the HQ of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Joint Force HQ. And surely this will not take up RM800 million……….see you have some savings here.

I would like to suggest that given the tight financial constraint of the nation, let’s stop taking about grandeur projects for a moment. Think of creating smaller projects where more medium and small scale contractors can participate directly without having to take on sub contract works from the much larger contractors. More importantly, the project has a direct impact on the ordinary people.

I am told that the larger and costlier the project, the better it is for some because these super rich contractors being small in numbers, has a better chance of getting such contracts. It is the medium and small scale contractors who will be placed at the mercy of the super rich contractors.

And as I had mentioned earlier, it is the construction industry that is the most corrupt industry in this country. I just do not know how much of the RM800 million will go to grease the pockets of corrupt officials.

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