Taken for a ride..

Recently the Malaysian Government has outdone themselves again with the announcement of the 1Malaysia F1 team. In a world full of economic and financial turmoil - where giants such as EU, Japan and America are trying to recover, we somehow manage to find RM1.8 billion (USD500m) to join a sport so lavish that even the likes of Honda and BMW have taken prudent steps to withdraw.

The funniest F1 car ever.

Help me, I am trying to be optimistic. I love and want to support my Government badly, but as a concerned citizen, I have to ask - Is this the right time for this sort of venture? Our participation comes at a time, where we are technically in recession - going through 2Qs of negative growth for 1st and 2nd Q of 2009.

You may argue that it is also in part a privately funded team - with AirAsia, Proton, Naza and Petronas coming in. With the exception of AirAsia, please do remember that the money from these companies comes indirectly from the government too. Proton with Government's 20 years tax protection in the car industry, Naza from the thousands of APs gifted to them by Rafidah Aziz and Petronas from the oil rights given by the government.

The funny thing you may ask on the Government's part of the money - where to find the millions needed to fund the F1 team when it's not even allocated in the 2009 budget? One theory could be the reduction of petrol quality in Malaysia. Many Malaysians don't realise it but the usual RON97 that you have been enjoying has been downgraded to RON95 but the RM1.80 per litre price tag still applies! BRILLIANT! That way, no protest, no anti-gov sentiment but still can find the money to pay for the F1 team! On top of that, I see adds on the newspaper brainwashing the public that using RON95 has made their car more powerful - gosh - how stupid and blind can we be.

There's a fine line between being patriotic and supporting the government blindly - lets not cross it.