COMMENT | A Greek mathematician reportedly proclaimed “Eureka! Eureka!” after he stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose, whereupon he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged.

Thus, the Archimedes principle was born.

Alexander Graham Bell’s first voice message ever transmitted was, “Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you.” Watson was Bell’s assistant at the time and the quote was the first sound of a voice ever transmitted by electricity.

But this week, another famous discovery was made by a Malaysian. It was not exactly a “Eureka” moment but Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan (above) can enjoy the dubious honour of discovering that if procurements are made through open tender, they can boost the country’s economy.

“As an example, a direct negotiation (tender) may be valued at RM50 million, but with the open tender policy, it may be priced at RM45 million.

“From this, the government would be able to...