Few inches Taller since Soyuz launched

Najib said: “Malaysians now ‘stand a few inches taller’. He said this after the ISS lifted off yesterday.

“We are a small country but with a big ambitions”, Najib replied when he was asked if the government was planning to send a Malaysian to the moon.

As a Malaysian I am proud of what Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor had achieved. It was no small feat and he has sacrificed much to get where he is now, in the orbit, circling the earth and moon.

But we must also not forget that the nation had sacrifice $80mil to get him there, while tens of thousands of Muslims in Kelantan and Trengganu are struggling to find food and clothings for their children in preparation of the Hari Raya. And there are also many hundreds of thousands of poors in the 13 States struggling to feed their children. Not to forget that the nation spent $3bil to acquire Russian jetfighters in order to procure this opportunity. Of course, we also must add the cost of managing the Space Agency and JJ and his entourages trips to Russia to ensure Mustaphar is doing fine.

That aside, I wonder whether it is true that we can stand a few inches taller with this feat achieved. The nation had big ambitions, said Najib. But is the ambition about going to the Moon and Mars while the nation is plunging into the dark ages?

Nurin was sexually molested and raped.

A Mongolian, Altantunya, was murdered in our country and the weapon used is a C4 bomb.

Ang Chin Peng and Wong Tan Yong was murdered. Chung Eng Wah was murdered. UTAR student Tan Lai Meng was murdered. K.Sujata was murdered. Ooi Choo Lee was murdered. And many, many more. All these are cases happening over the last 2 months only.

Is there anything to cheer at this moment?

The Judiciary is in shambles plagued by scandals of the highest order and involving the chief justice and various judges alleged to have being elevated via kleptomaniac-ism.

There is a Court of Appeal Judge whose competency is in the mould of Lord Denning, but had remain in the court of appeal for more than 20 years without any chance of being promoted while his juniors and students had being elevated to the highest office as federal court judges.

We also faces crisis of confidence regarding the integrity and truthfulness of the police department, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Customs department, the Transport Ministry, and the treasury. And what is bemusing is that the allegation of dishonesty involves the CEO and chiefs of all these departments.

Added to these anxieties and dilemmas, we have our prime minister who believes that racial issues is the truth and alarmingly burgeoning.

"We do not want to pretend and say that everything is okay. We do not want to be in a state of denial. Tell the truth even if it is painful," Pak Lah said.

But the irony is that those who told the truth were being arrested and detained and being questioned for spreading lies. Truth becomes lies and lies becomes truth. Which is which?

Raja Petra revealed much on organized crime cases and conspiracies in the police force. He was questioned by the police.

Nathaniel Tan was also detained in relation to the Internal Security Deputy Minister's role on the release of gangsters.

Information Minister called bloggers Goblok and Karaoke Singers, Khairy called bloggers Monkeys; Minister without Portfolio in the PM's department called lawyers "unbecoming".

So, the painful truth is not wanted; those who dare tell the truth are paranoid and suffering from phobias... they may end up being investigated and indicted. What does the nation wants? What does the PM wants? What does the Ministers want? What do we want?

Sick and Sad but we have one thing to cheer - our man is in the orbit, circling the earth and will be circling the moon. There won't be roti canai and batu sembilan or teh tarik up there. Our man is suppose to perform experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes (that's what was reported). I hope the dentist could do it as it may be outside the sphere of his academic and professional training and expertise. But the ministers said he can.

We hope! We have hope! We will hope!

But can we also hope that the government will clean up the messes and the corruptivism of the dysfunctional system of administration? Is there any hope? We only can pray that it is and will be.

Oh sera sera, whatever will be will be, ...