The Youth and Sports Ministry's proposal to build a RM490 million sports complex in London is so hilarious if not for the fact that it has been seriously planned to be implemented soon. How minister Azalina Othman could support and initiate such an idea speaks volumes of her type and calibre.

What rational reasons are there for our country to transport our future sportsmen and sportswomen half a globe away in order to grasp the fundamentals of competing with the world's best? Frankly I cannot find even one good reason to support such a ridiculous idea.

The minister would be well-advised to follow the old adage of not trying to walk even before one has learnt how to crawl.

What is the logic in sending our sportsmen to a cold, foreign place to learn how to compete with the very best when we can't even compete with mediocre sportsmen in Southeast Asia who share a common familiar climate?

Shouldn't our sportsmen and women compete and excel first in Southeast Asia and Asia before taking on the best in the world? Our minister's faith in our sportsmen and women is certainly misplaced if she thinks we can compete with the world's best even before we can excel in Southeast Asia and among Asia's best.

If we cannot beat mediocre opponents in a familiar and similar climate then what are the chances of us excelling in a cold, foreign unfamiliar land? To spend RM490 million in one of the most expensive places in the world without any certainty of success is one of the most irresponsible acts of our leaders.

I strongly urge those responsible for making this decision to seriously revoke the preposterous proposal.