COMMENT | If Malaysia does not stop all the dirty practices that have been allowed to propagate since the late 1980s, we will not become a Third World country by 2020.

The "helium" balloons which exploded at last Saturday's Putrajaya aerobics session and injured 16 people sums up the true state of the nation.

First: there is an almost total disregard for health and safety, or rules and regulations.

Second: there is an inability, or unwillingness, to learn from past mistakes.

Third: money is more important than anything else.

As we now know, the helium balloons were actually filled with hydrogen...