Is this where subsidy savings go?

IPOH: The government is spending millions of ringgit on 1Malaysia commemorative pillars, and the DAP says this is a reckless waste of public funds, especially when ordinary Malaysians are suffering from subsidy cuts on essential goods.

“They are claiming that they are forced by financial constraints to reduce subsidies on sugar and petrol, but they have RM38.4 million to spend on monuments to promote the Prime Minister’s political image,” said Nga Kor Ming, the assemblyman for Pantai Remis and DAP’s assistant treasurer.

Nga said he had counted five of such structures in Pantai Remis alone, claiming that they were not much further than one kilometre from each other.

He speculated that their preponderance in the area could be due to the political rivalry between him and Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir.

He estimated that each of the pillars would cost at least RM5,000 to build.

He fears that they would become like former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Wawasan 2020 monuments, which have all been destroyed.

“Tax money is wasted by empty slogans and totem poles supporting the 1Malaysia promise, which has not even been realised,” he said.

The money spent on them could have been used for basic infrastructure projects in rural areas, he added.

“Sugar prices have risen four times in one year, and oil prices have risen six times.

“But Barisan Nasional has the public funds to spend extravagantly on white elephant projects, like constructing thousands of 1Malaysia monuments in various urban and rural areas,” he said.