Digest on Malaysian News

First thing first, Najib never heard of NASA and thought that Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is an astronaut. Kenot lar. Sheikh Muszaphar is neither an astronaut or cosmonaut or taikonaut. He's merely a space traveler.

And when Sheikh Muszaphar completed his mission (in reality, just a paid space tour), he is being accorded a title Datuk. Dah lah kena sponsor, bagi pangkat Datuk pulak. What the point of spending huge sum of money for this kind of program and reward the person with a title. It's not the first of it's kind among mankind what.

And how much was the cost for sending Sheikh Muszaphar to space ? The cost is estimated to be over RM100 million (over USD25 million). The actual figure is triple but the government would not confirm it.

What's else? Now Sheikh Muszaphar has published a 71-page book. A thin book as a compliment for the wasted RM100 million program. Probably a book without substance and contained mostly personal photo of Sheikh Muszaphar while in space. No research or experiment topics kah ? Well, don't bother, you can read those in the secondary Science text-book.

Back to the amount of money flush into space ... it could have been properly utilitize to fund construction of hospitals, clinics or schools which are severely lacking in some part of Malaysia. Let's take Kuching (the state capital of Sarawak) as a case. Kuching is roughly populated with over 800,000 inhabitants. There is a General Hospital and the number of beds is about 2,000. Imagine 2,000 beds for a population of 800,000.

This is Najib strategy to become more popular when Malaysia politics is in a mess. It's also a veil to distract the citizens of Malaysia while the politics bickering is ongoing from the streets to the Cabinet. He show-off his Kenot program to impress the raykat for his personal interest.

Extract from : http://www.bernama.com/ (Mar 28, 2008)

Astronaut Programme Widens People's World View - Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- The government's success in sending the country's first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, into space last year has brought about changes to the mindset of the people, especially among the younger generation.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said if previously many among them would say they wanted to become doctors, engineers or other professionals, the national astronaut programme, which started in 2006, had widened their world views.

"If previously we have not heard of anyone wanting to be an astronaut, after Dr Sheikh's blast into space, this has changed. Many among the younger generation are now saying they want to become astronauts.

"This is a reflection of the changes in the mindset among Malaysian people," he said at the launching of a book, titled "Reaching For The Stars" written by the late Sheikh Mustapha Shukor Al-Masrie, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's younger brother.

Present were Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's parents Datuk Sheikh Mustapha Sheikh Shukor and Datin Zuraidah Sheikh Ahmad.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor as well as a Russian and an American astronauts blasted into space onboard the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft in October last year.

He was at the International Space Station for 11 days before returning to earth on Oct 21.

Najib said the space mission was Malaysia's national success as a developing nation on a quest to become a developed country by 2020.

"One of the most important challenges for Malaysians to realise in our endeavor to become a truly developed nation, is the challenge to transform our mindsets to become winners, doers and achievers," he said.

The 71-page book, published by MPH Group Publishing, tells Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's experience in space.

Priced at RM20 per copy, the book also contains exclusive photographs of Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor in space.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor hoped the book would inspire greater interests towards science and technology among students.

He said the royalty from the sale of the book would go to the education funds of his brother's children -- Aiman, 3, and Balkish, 1.

His brother, Sheikh Mustapha Shukor Al-Masrie died on Oct 27 after being in coma as a result of a fall on the day the astronaut return to earth.