masterwordsmith-unplugged

My heart bleeds. Really. At this point when the prices of goods and services are escalating in tandem with increases in the prices of fuel and power supply, how can the government have the gumption to announce HERE that it spent a total of RM27 million for the Million Youths Assembly held last month, 18 times the initial RM1.5 million budget for the National Youth Day event?

In the report, Youth And Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek stressed that the government did not use any “additional expenditure” for the event, and said a “large” amount of the RM27 million was obtained via sponsorship from the private sector.

It is absolutely incorrigible to learn that  the allocation prepared by the government to carry out the National Youth Day amounted to RM1.5 million. In a reply to Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (Marang-PAS) Ahmad Shabery said that the total costs amounted to RM27 million, where most of it was obtained via sponsorship from the private sector!!!
Whether it was public money or money from the private sector, it was still RM27 million  that was spent!!!

C.R.A.Z.Y.!!!!!

How can so much money be spent on the event Million Youth Assembly, held from May 27 to May 29 merely to provide a platform for youths to “showcase their talents and interests through over 200 programmes” as well as highlighting job opportunities through a Job Fair????

Imagine - Ahmad Shabery said the gathering was a “success”, based on the number of youths who had reportedly attended the event in Putrajaya. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, had told reporters that the total visitors to the assembly surpassed the one million mark.



So it is justified to spend RM27 million just so that more than one million youths attended the assembly to listen to our PM call on youths to “defend Putrajaya” from the opposition if they wished to see Malaysia transformed into a developed country.

Isn't this such an expensive event? The parties concerned should justify and account for EVERY SINGLE CENT OF THE RM27 million  that has been spent. MPs and the sponsors MUST ASK WHY AND HOW THE MONEY WAS SPENT!!!

Couldn't the RM27 million be put to BETTER USE with MORE long lasting effects than a one-time event?

Just last month, The Malaysian Insider reported HERE that Khairy Jamaluddin called on the government to slash funding to ineffective programmes such as National Service before asking the public to accept subsidy cuts the Najib administration has hinted at recently.

“Don’t ask people to tighten their belts before you take a red pen and razor knife to your own shopping bill,” the Rembau MP told The Malaysian Insider today.

Recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also said fuel subsidies were “like opium” to the Malaysian economy and would have to be gradually slashed as the initial bill of RM11 billion had soared to RM18 billion for this year due to escalating crude oil prices.

Of late, we have seen how the Consumer Price Index also rose by three per cent in March — the fastest rate in nearly two years — with the price of non-alcoholic foodstuff surging by 4.7 per cent.

So after slashing subsidies, is it time for a spending spree like this one???

Certainly, Public Accounts Committee and Auditor-General should concentrate on contracts and abuse of power and make sure that every single ringgit spent is accounted for and justified!!!

Whatever the case, it is certainly unbelievably preposterous to read this maddening news report!!!