How close you may ask. Close enough for the government to splurge more than RM600,000 to justify both, via books distributed to the masses.
The Communications and Multimedia Ministry told Parliament on Monday that the government, through its propaganda unit, the Department of Special Affairs (Jasa), spent close to RM620,000 to publish two separate books, one on the 1MDB debacle, the other on the Red Shirts rally held in the city last year.
According to reports, the ministry said the books were necessary to clear the air over both issues, which “had been politicised till it caused a significant impact, especially on security and national harmony.”
Last year, Jasa also defended its publication of the Red Shirts book, saying it was to commemorate an “historic event”, and to show how an “exemplary” street rally should be organised.
If you just read the above and rolled your eyes in disbelief, you are not alone.
This is literally RM600k of taxpayers’ money, down the drain, or rather flushed down the toilet, folks.
It is an amount that a huge population of Malaysians cannot dream of ever earning annually – some in their lifetimes.
How did questions and criticism levelled at 1MDB and the rally, impact security and national harmony, Putrajaya?
Granted, 1MDB is owned by the government, but how is questioning or criticising its various alleged misappropriations of funds detrimental to national security and harmony?
If the government felt the need to justify the various scandals surrounding 1MDB, why not do it in Parliament, where legitimate questions on the company have been systematically ignored?
What about the Red Shirts rally, where rowdy behaviour, lawbreaking and racist-tinged speeches were on full display for not only Malaysia to witness, but the world at large?
Did the participants of the rally not ignore police orders and breach barriers? Did they not shout racially sensitive remarks and commit acts of vandalism?
How the heck was it exemplary then?
In fact, the rally was indeed “historic” and “exemplary” in a sense that it was a classic example of how rallies are not supposed to be.
Why spend hard earned taxpayers’ money to justify highly contentious issues?
Was the public consulted about this blatant waste of resources?
Unfortunately, it is the people who are forced to pay the price whenever elected officials run the country’s administration to the ground.