Prioritising needs in Sarawak

COMMENT | When I read the announcement yesterday that the old DUN building in Petra Jaya would undergo a makeover and be turned into a performing arts centre, my first thought was: another ‘state-of-art’ project again? How many hundred million ringgits would it cost this time?

My mind started recalling the focus on fancy ‘state-of-the-art’ projects and the ones that came to mind were:-

(i) the RM308 million new Sarawak Museum Campus that started in 2015 and

scheduled for completion March 2020;

(ii) the RM35 million Darul Hana Bridge launched in November 2017, and

(iii) the RM31 million Musical Water Fountain launched in November 2018.

How does this ‘masterpiece’ benefit the population at large in terms of creation of jobs? Perhaps only 10-20 percent of the city-folks who are able to afford the tickets to enjoy performing arts.