What will a budget of RM62 million get you?

BY THE MALKETEER

This week, the Dewan Rakyat was told that a whopping RM62.09mil was spent by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in the rebranding of his Keluarga Malaysia government which lasted from August 2021 to November 2022.

It was officially reported earlier to have cost only RM5 million.

I went ballistic upon reading that after spending millions, our politicians failed miserably   to put an end to the endless racial spews, hatred, bigotry and moral policing that is threatening the very fabric of our country.

I don’t have anything against the Keluarga Malaysia campaign. On paper it is a laudable move in uniting all the citizens under one umbrella as the Malaysian family with seemingly equal rights and benefits.

What I am aghast is at its dismal failure in achieving the three main thrusts – inclusion, togetherness and gratitude – aimed at uniting Malaysians together.

Unfortunately, we are continually witnessing to this very day, the ugly resurgence of moral policing on attire even at an emergency ward of a hospital.

Way before the launch of Keluarga Malaysia, my generation was already living exemplary lives in the authentic spirit a Malaysian Family until some crafty politician decided that the best option to stay in power and rule forever so that the plundering could continue unabated was simply to divide and rule.

We only saw ourselves as Malaysians.

We sat next to each other in classroom, studying together in harmony and in competition to be the best and excel.

Every festival we would go to each other’s home, eat and celebrate.

There was semblance of meritocracy, pragmatism and honesty.

History was not rewritten.

We excelled in sports, debates, general knowledge.

We spoke and wrote excellent Bahasa Malaysia and English.

Where did we go wrong?

It is the abysmal failure of the top political echelon to have the gumption to decisively nip in the bud nonsensical and racially-charged issues.

I am totally left speechless that the money spent was all in vain.

Ineffective and precious funds spent on a syiok sendiri campaign.

What a colossal waste of public funds.

Politicians are voted in by the rakyat to serve the rakyat.

Why do we need to spend a sen on branding?

If they do their job well, that is the best branding they can get.

We should stop this branding nonsense and get on with improving the lives of our people – not expensive non-productive sloganeering to enrich cronies.

It was the worst of times the nation was going through. The floods and the Covid infections causing white flags to be raised and the economy closed.

Regardless if the Keluarga Malaysia tender was done properly, the RM62mil could have been put to good use for the rakyat who are still struggling to put food on their table and losing jobs to foreigners.

This is no exaggeration, I know of Malaysian security guards at an institute of higher learning being replaced just last month by Nepali security guards. They have no jobs, no income.

How can our political leaders even sleep at night knowing the funds they spend is coming from the rakyat?

And one of  them still has the audacity to try be the campaign face for even more EPF withdrawals.

RM62m would greatly alleviate the burden of the B40 many times over but obviously that is many times less preferable than piling millions onto their billions.

When will the B40 realise that and not fall for cheap rhetoric?

Refer to attached table to see what the Prime Minister’s Department spent on media for the year 2022 when ranked with top brands in the country. Source – Nielsen, figures are based on published rate card prices and excludes discounts, bonus buys, etc.

Please note the Communications & Multimedia Ministry is shown to have spent more than a half billion on media, some of which also went towards the Keluarga Malaysia campaign. So the final total is anybody’s guess. Plus the halo effect of well-meaning brands who echoed the Keluarga Malaysia theme in their campaigns is not factored here.