Stop the wastage

By Krishna M. Singh

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY MENTRI BESAR

YAB,

Early in your stewardship of Negri Sembilan, I noticed that the towns in this state were usually plastered with billboards, banners and posters with your picture on them. You never missed an opportunity to have these displays be it Hari Raya, Deepavali, Chinese New Year and other national and religious occasions. I wrote to you to say that these displays were extravagant and waste of money. You never replied but continued with the wastage.

Then when Najib became PM last year he spoke out against this practice. I noticed that there was marked reduction in the extravagance. 

However, the practice seems to have re-established itself in the last few months and more so since the Merdeka celebrations this year. As I write at this moment the displays are very evident in Seremban. 

YAB, there are a lot of poor people in this country and it includes Negri Sembilan, It is apparent to me that you do not appreciate the despair in the lives of poor people. Only early this week I saw a video of Malay lady who cried uncontrollably when her father received RM 1000.00 from the state in Penang – a gift from the Penang government to the senior citizens of the state. I can send you the link if you want to see the video. It is pathetic that we have such poor people in this country. 

Instead of wasting money by showing off your well known face to the people to this state, I think the money will be better spent by doling it out to the poor and the needy.

You should learn to embrace modern technology and use emails and SMSs to send the greetings to the people of this state. Another alternative is to have a recording aired over radio Negri with your greetings with much frequency as you want.  These methods are more personal and meaningful.  

Please stop the wastage. Help the poor and not the contractor who may have already enriched himself with the past contracts. 

I take this opportunity to wish you Selamat Hari Raya – the low cost way.