Malaysia is famous for its delicious food and tropical climate, but on the other side of the coin, is infamous for corruption, systemic human rights abuses, and a non-transparent method of governance.
The most recent uproar that has enraged the public revolves around three main parties – the Ministry of Tourism, a corrupt and pathetic wimp of a minister Ng Yen Yen and the social media.
To summarize the scandal in one sentence, it was revealed in Parliament a few days ago that the Ministry of Tourism has spent a total of RM1.8 million for a ‘social media’ campaign (which includes Facebook).
The debacle began when Deputy Tourism Minister James Dawos Mamit revealed in Parliament when questioned that RM1,758,432 was spent on developing six Facebook pages to promote Malaysia’s tourism He said that each Facebook page costed around RM293,072 – Cuti-Cuti 1 Malaysia, Citrawarna 1 Malaysia, Karnival Jualan Mega 1 Malaysia, Festival Pelancongan Seni Kontemporari 1 Malaysia, Kempen 1 Malaysia Bersih and Fabulous Food 1 Malaysia.
So far, only ONE page is functioning. The others don’t exist. Said page only has around 30 thousand fans. But more importantly? Facebook and Twitter is FREE.
But fair enough. To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they just need a little more time in order to get things rolling.
But you know what irks me the most? It’s the fact that the company that was awarded the contract to design the campaign – Impact Creations Sdn. Bhd – does not even have a decent COMPANY WEBSITE! In fact, a Google search for using the company name turns up little reference to it. For an advertising company engaged to promote Malaysia on the Internet scene, to not have a company website is telling. The company’s parent company – Impact Challenger, does have a website, but at first glance, seems rather basic and lacking.
It seems (to me, at least) that this so-called ‘online campaign’ was a farce and doomed from the start. What a waste of the Rakyat’s money, when it could be spent on more fruitful things – like improving our education system or creating more social benefits for the needy.
It doesn’t help matters one bit when you see this woman’s lansi face on TV, fumbling to justify the expenditure of RM1.8 million and her decision to award the contract to Impact Creations.
Which didn’t work, by the way. Instead of pacifying the outraged public, it manage to incite them further. Now, they’re all out for blood. Her blood.
A Facebook page called ‘Curi-curi Wang Malaysia’, set up anonymously in response to this event, has already garned fans numbering 94,985 (said numbers growing by the second, and including yours truly).
All of us want just one thing – quite simple really – that an acceptable explanation (and not just excuses) be given. And if it is discovered that there has been a gross misuse of power and misappropriation of funds, we want the people responsible to be removed from their positions of power and PUNISHED.
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, a government should be “OF the people, BY the people, and BY the people”. Lately, it seems that the ruling coalition has forgotten this very simple but powerful tenet, hence the Rakyat’s dissatisfaction.
Here’s to the power of change.
