Budget 2011: 100-storey tower

The Malaysian Insider aptly titles its article “Big Malaysia is back“.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Budget 2011 speech today confirmed the return of big Malaysia, with a slew of announcements headlined by the construction of a 100-storey tower in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and the widely-expected Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system for the city.

Ng Yen Yen has this to say (from Malaysiakini):

“There is no end because everybody wants a tallest tower. Shanghai and Taiwan wants more, so why should we hold back?”

“The most important thing is that we can do it. Why should we hold back?”

“The building serves to balance Malaysia’s traditional cultures and pursuit for modernity. This will put Malaysia on the tourist map,”

Everybody wants a tallest tower. So we should do it too. Oh, but wait, there is definitely no way we will be building the tallest tower with this 100-storey building, because Burj Khalifa is more than 160 storeys high. So since we’re not in it to break any world records this time round, why are we doing this again?

Because we can. Yes we can. (Obama’s campaigning slogan is becoming increasingly convenient to mimic.)

I’m pretty sure we can do a whole lot of other things. Like encourage sustainable, environment-friendly development. Like maintaining what little we have left of our heritage buildings and culture.

But wait. Ng Yen Yen (our Tourism Minister, mind you) says the 100-storey tower will balance our traditional culture with our pursuit for modernity.

Hmm..

SK Devamany says:

“The nation must have a dream. We had the Twin Towers and KLCC. Now, the 100-story building will be the new ‘Malaysia boleh’. This is good because we all need to dream.”

This is to be our new “Malaysia Boleh”, he says. We all need to dream, he tells us.

My version of “Malaysia Boleh” is that we boleh achieve zero poverty, that we boleh achieve 100% literacy, that we boleh have a nation where no one will feel unwanted, where everyone feels safe, where public institutions are just, and government bodies are transparent.

I guess at least SK Devasamy got something right. We all need to dream.