I response to Najib Razak's recent call to change our lifestyles due to the rising petrol price, my family had cut down on travel, no eating out and buying the cheapest essentials available on the market.

What makes me furious is this piece of news that the government is planning to build an almost half-a-billion-ringgit sports academy in London. I simply cannot comprehend the logic behind spending such a massive amount of funds just to benefit a few athletes while back home we are asked to make sacrifices.

The reasons given for the academy were even more atrocious. Firstly, it is to allow our athletes to adapt to the weather over there. They must be kidding! Most of the sports that we participate in over there are held outdoors and during summer, for example, the Summer Olympics.

In summer, the weather in Europe is just nice for our athletes, not too warm or cold. If at all the athletes need to get acclimatised, sending them to the host country a week or two earlier will do the trick.

As far as technology and expertise is concerned, I wonder if our athletes and sportsmen will really benefit from these. If it is beneficial, we are also in close proximity to two countries with very good sports technology, namely Japan and Australia.

We were badminton greats once. We were the holder of Thomas Cup many years ago. We were experts in badminton. Where has all the expertise in badminton gone? Never mind that we have lost that. Since we are next only to Indonesia and China, have we learnt anything from them? As far as I can see, China is leaving us further and further behind in all fields of sports.

My belief is that we need not spend this large amount of money on such a 'mega project' which will benefit only a small number people. The majority of the public are suffering in silence. Use that amount of money to improve the transport system or build more hospitals, either of which will be more beneficial to the rakyat.