OCT 20 — Budget 2011 is out. The most glaring thing about this Budget is that we are back to the so-called infrastructure play. Billions will be spent on infrastructure. While this will help to push for economic growth, I have a feeling of déjà vu, a sense of “Back to the Future Past.”

This sort of spending will ensure many big companies get billions of ringgit worth of projects, and many of the not-so-big companies getting millions in sub-contracts, and many of the small companies getting the crumbs... we will also need hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, since Malaysians have generally shunned construction work.

In the process of awarding contracts and sub-contracts and sub-sub-contracts, everyone will probably be happy since there will be plenty to go round, like what happened in the 90s before the Asian financial crisis. Stock market plays based on rumours of getting contracts will be back again, and again many people will be happy.

However, the Budget has not addressed the problems of preparing the nation and society for innovative change nor dealt with any structural changes.

While some projects like the MRT are necessary, even though I have certain reservations of the cost, the 100-storey building is totally irrelevant in the push towards a high-income nation. To think that by building this, we can become a high-income country is like thinking that a student can be a straight A’s one just by shifting the marking curve.

Talking about high-rises, I can’t help but think of the Empire State Building which was built in the 1930s in Manhattan. It has 102 floors, and was once the tallest building in the world until the Sears Tower was built in Chicago.

I remember when I was small, one of the general knowledge questions that was frequently asked during class and in competitions was: which building was the tallest in the world? And how many floors?

In those days, general knowledge was considered very important. Most of our teachers were well-versed with general knowledge. They could tell us who invented the light bulb, who invented the first internal combustion engine, who first flew over the Atlantic, which was the longest river in the world, who the first man in space was and who was the first man to step on the moon, and so on and so forth. Nowadays, teachers can hardly tell Timbuktu from Budapest, so how to impart general knowledge to their students?

Even when the Sears Tower and the collapsed World Trade Center went up higher than the Empire State Building, the latter remained an icon and is now considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Even the Sears Tower or Petronas Twin Towers which were taller than the Empire State Building were not accorded this recognition. Anyone going to US/New York would not miss the chance to go up to the Empire State Building Observation Deck and enjoy the 360-degree view of Manhattan.

Even though you can get the same view from the nearby Rockefeller Center (nicknamed The Rock), more people go up the Empire State building than The Rock, simply because it is the more recognised building.

So it is not about being the tallest or the widest or the biggest. It is more about the recognition that people give to the building. It is not unlike the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace. You can see changing of guards in other places, too, but nothing beats seeing the changing of guards in front of that palace.

Or like the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco (another of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World). There are bigger and longer bridges, but who can remember them? People remember only the Golden Gate Bridge since it has already become an icon.

Part of the reason for such recognition is that at the time these iconic buildings were built, mankind had never attempted such feats before, and these were products of pioneering engineering challenges. 

It’s like eating fried kway teow. KL may have good fried kway teow stalls which may even have more “liao” than those in Penang, but nothing beats eating a plate of fried kway teow in Penang, sitting with the crowd...

You mention fried kway teow to any Malaysian and they will immediately think of Penang, not KL or PJ. So when you talk about tall buildings, people immediately think about the Empire State Building.

So to spend RM5 billion to build a tall tower is just not going to make it the most recognised structure in the world.

For that amount, we could build 50,000 RM100,000 medium-cost homes or 100,000 RM50,000 low-cost homes which can reduce the number of homeless families drastically.  The economic “push” factor would be similar… the RM5 billion could trickle down and help propel the construction sector. There are other options to use the RM5 billion more productively too.

With this Budget, I can’t help but think that Mahathirism is making a strong comeback. How to tackle the problems of cronyism and corruption with this obsession for mega projects?

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.