Plenty, of course. Providing better health care for the poor and needy. Enhancing the facilities of our schools. There are so many worthwhile and worthy things that can be achieved with RM3.5 million...a month.
But our elected government thought it wise to use that amount to maintain the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). Still, the government can argue that it's the national oil company, Petronas, that is footing the RM3.5 million monthly bill. Fine, but then the revenue from the oil fields belong to the people of Malaysia.
Get a load of the following: Foreign musicians are paid a monthly wage of between RM16,000 and RM28,000. The conductor gets RM130,000 and his assistant RM50,000 a month. Plus 2-month annual leave. OMG. What other perks do they get?
Personally, I have no objection to the existence of the MPO. It's an ideal set-up to nurture of our musicians. But spending RM3.5m is going overboard. Another example of Malaysia Boleh. Besides, how many percent of our population has ever set foot inside the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS?
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