Deputy Education Minister Wee, have you heard of Zhongshan

Wee - Really bad attitude and strategy

Wong Choon Mei Malaysia Chronicle

Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong is trying hard to help his boss Prime Minister Najib Razak put out a fire caused by the announcement of a manifestly wasteful investment, but he may do better to help his community find the answers as to why a 23-year old Malaysian Chinese who topped the Cambridge law exam has opted to join the Singapore Legal Service.

“Really bad attitude and strategy. PNB CEO is duty-bound to clarify or give details,” tsked tsked Wee on his Twitter.

The MCA Youth chief was responding to news that the PNB CEO Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman had refused to take calls from the press on Najib's proposed construction of a RM5 billion 100-storey skyscraper in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Defusing public uproar over Warisan Merdeka

To defuse the public uproar that greeted the latest fiasco, BN pundits have been rushing to point out that the deal was a private investment, and a building that yielded rental would anytime be preferable to idle-land even though the final construction may entail costly additional transportation adjuncts such as an MRT link or levy on cars entering the city.

“100-storey: It’s a private investment involving unit holders’ money, so PM shouldn’t be left to explain it. PNB should be the one to talk about it,” was one comment on Twitter.

“It is a pricey idle land. A building is good, only what kind? Traffic can be resolved with MRT, levy on cars during peak,” was another Twittercomment.

But the verdict from the man-on-the-street is loud and clear. They fear Najib’s latest spending spree was an omen that the days of the BN government were nearing an end and he was now out to make the last grabs for himself and his cronies.

Pundits were even more caustic. Although Najib had unveiled a rash of super-mega projects totaling RM109 billion in last week's Budget 2011, he had snubbed Penang and only allocated crumbs worth RM9.55 billion or 8 percent of the total projects' value to Sarawak and Sabah - two of the poorest and most backward states in the country.

“I think we got enough tall buildings in Malaysia. Why do we need a 100-storey tower called Warisan Merdeka? I would say that this is a waste of resources. It should be used towards encouraging creativity, education,” Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had told reporters.

"I don’t think it helps us to move forward as a high-income economy. High-income economy is not talking about tall buildings. High-income economy is talking about people who have the energy, the expertise and the entrepreneurship to be able to earn high incomes."

It's all about unfairness and corruption

Meanwhile, Malaysians especially the Chinese community beamed at heart-warming news of a local boy who made good. Ipoh-born Tan Zhongshan obtained a first-class honours in the Bachelor of Arts (Law) in June from Queens’ College, Cambridge University, one of England’s oldest and most prestigious institutions.

Zhongshan - did himself proud

As non-Malays here fought tooth-and-nail for a more equitable distribution of government scholarships and while ultra-Malay rights groups like Perkasa went on rampage for what they perceive to be an uprising against their own rights, the Singapore government gave Zhongshan an ASEAN scholarship for his tertiary studies after he scored in his A-level exams.

“I will also join the Singapore Legal Service in January,” the Star reported Zhongshan as saying.

Recently, Najib has announced that he will launch Talent Corp – a government-linked entity believed to be headed by former Trade minister Rafidah Aziz. The aim of Najib's latest brainchild is to hunt down Malaysian diaspora with the aim of luring them to come home to work.

As usual, BN leaders including Wee lauded Najib’s foresight.

“On the way to Parliament to answer Q3 on PMR and UPSR and Q9 on teachers recruitment in Sarawak,” Wee tweeted.

Who will speak up for Malaysians

But the deputy Education minister failed to make any mention of Zhongshan’s achievement.

Wee was also conspicuously silent on why the talented youngster opted to join the Singapore civil service and why they were willing to roll out the red carpet for him while his own nation did not.

Instead it was left to DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang to blast Najib in his usual no-holds-barred style.

"What is there in the 2011 Budget to convince Malaysians that the budding Tan Zhong Shans in the schools in Malaysia, who can become top students in the world’s top universities, will not be driven from Malaysian schools and universities to foreign ones by unfair BN policies only to benefit other countries eventually?" Kit Siang said in a statement.

"The Najibonomics of the 2011 Budget is just a throwback to the old Mahathironomics of mega-projects like the proposal to build a 100-storey RM5 billion Najib Tower rather than to create a new architecture of Malaysian talents fully able to retain and utilize the contributions of the best and brightest of Malaysians – who can compare and compete with their peers in other parts of the world."