By-elections as an emerging industry
BN obviously wanted to make everyone happy by dishing out money, even to those who apparently did not need it. A school in Lompang — one of the best looking and best equipped in the area —received RM300,000 for renovation.
By S Navalan, Free Malaysia Today
COMMENT The crowds are gone, the traffic is flowing smoothly again, the madness is over. And things should be returning to normal in Hulu Selangor. But are they?
With Barisan Nasional winning last Sunday’s by-election on bold promises of financial rewards and business opportunities, life can never be the same again. If those promises are kept, the folk of Hulu Selangor — many of them desperately poor — can expect a windfall to the tune of millions and millions of ringgit.
Indeed, BN’s victory could be the best thing that has ever happened to this semi-urban, ethnically mixed district that has sometimes been described as a Malaysia in miniature. If BN really delivers, every one of its residents stands to prosper.
There will, for instance, finally be a new highway to link Hulu Selangor to the North-South Expressway. The highway will be worth RM85 million and should silence complaints that we have been hearing for decades about the poor road system. It remains to be seen who will win this hefty contract and other contracts not so hefty but still not too shabby.
Even the dead, it seems, will benefit from BN’s victory. The government will spend RM90,000 to upgrade a graveyard near Ulu Yam.
Children too have reason to rejoice, even though they were too young to vote last Sunday. A school in Kuala Kubu Baru and another in Bukit Beruntung were each promised RM3 million in assistance. And in case there was any doubt about BN’s multiracial credentials, the Sin Ko Chinese School can expect a RM1.5 million present for its 100th anniversary.
