I find it amazing that the most Malaysians aren’t as outraged as I am by the so-called relief measures announced by Abdullah. From my understanding of his statements, the proposed cutbacks are to be derived from:

- a 10 percent cut of the elaun keraian (entertainment allowance), which covers the annual paid holiday travel abroad for top-ranking officials, including the prime minister, deputy prime minister, ministers and deputy ministers from July 1.

- Other concrete measures to be taken by the government would be to freeze extravagant and unnecessary projects and to put a halt to frivolous and unnecessary activities, such as officiating at the opening ceremonies of buildings and such.

- Seminars, workshops and other government retreats from now on will be conducted at government sites to optimise the facilities unless such facilities should prove inadequate.

- For local government retreats, workshops, seminars, conferences and meetings, the use of hotels will be stopped altogether.

It is one thing to be peeved about irrelevant military purchases made by Najib (somewhere in the sum of RM 3.2 billion) but it is another to be totally outraged by a RM2 billion per annum saving from the activities listed.

What Umno is trying to achieve is misdirect the public into focusing on the wholesome figure of RM2 billion – apparently the word ‘billion’ was even emphasised by Abdullah, the nerve! – and not into calculating its excessiveness in pursuit of entertainment and related expenditures.

The relief measures supposedly encompass an extraction of RM2 billion from the federal budget that is allocated for governmental travel, entertainment and executive expenditures and this is to be channeled towards helping low-income earners. Readers of Malaysiakini have commented on this thick-skinned response to the fuel hike and the cheek to even justify a continuing although much limited traveling agenda.

But it is also fundamental to keep in mind that a whopping RM2 billion has been spent every year on the other non-productive activities. The words that Abdullah had used to describe some of these activities include ‘extravagant’, ’unnecessary’ and ‘frivolous’.

The only consolation from his announcement is that the public now have a ballpark figure to approximate how much has been wasted since 2004. It is proper to analyse how RM2 billion is ‘saved’ from the mentioned activities.

Firstly, 10 percent is to be extracted from annual entertainment allowance by ministers and travel is to be limited to within the country and the Asean region during their holidays. That is commendable but this allows one to make the inference that the stated ‘annual-all-expenses-paid trip’ figure could be a much more substantial sum.

This figure has been conveniently left out and only said to be ‘restricted’. There already have been accusations against the DPM’s wife Rosmah Mansor for splurging on batik to the tune of RM300, 000 while overseas. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the tab is to be borne by taxpayers if this is true.

After all, the numbers provided by the entertainment allowance figures calculate only in the millions at most. So in the lack of further figures, how is the RM2 billion mark even remotely achieved? Penang’s present chief minister Lim Guan Eng has been seen and commended for using economy class on domestic flights recently.

This is leading by example. Not by making it seem like the PM and his posse are sacrificing RM2 billion to suffer in tandem with the rakyat.

Secondly, what exactly are the ‘extravagant and unnecessary’ projects referenced? That sounds engagingly similar to Khairy Jamaluddin’s venture into high fashion with the opening of his boutique at the Pavillion. The second qualification reads ‘officiating at the opening ceremonies’; does Abdullah flaunting his presence in front of said boutique satisfy this criterion?

One must wonder why extravagant projects are even implemented in the first place. It is even more incredible that unnecessary projects are also being carried out. Sure, this may all be semantics and I might be nit-picking, but we can only criticise on what little information has been sparingly dispensed by BN.

Instead of vague one-liners, the furnishing of exact details is appropriate. Perhaps again, BN is diverting attention to the numbers instead of the substance of its usage or the individual constituents of the total sum.

Thirdly, it is simply unacceptable that with Putrajaya costing RM11.83 billion, that ‘seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings’ were regularly conducted at hotels. You can argue on proximity and convenience all you want but the fact that Abdullah is limiting further conferences to Putrajaya shows that it could have been done earlier.

And of the billions spent each year on training, has there been any credible proof of an enhancement of government capabilities? For example, at the recent two-day retreat in Shah Alam, what has exactly been resolved? Malaysiakini reported that it was supposed to be a no-holds barred attempt at regaining public confidence. But most ministers apparently left early or clearly had nothing to say.

If such an important function resulted in lukewarm response, how much is squandered on meetings that we do not know of?

In conclusion, the sum of RM2 billion is still mind-boggling excessive. Whereas with Najib, we have at least procured submarines, what has come out of the RM2 billion spent on workshops and entertainment expenses?

Has the government served us any better in the process? Do not belittle the intelligence of the rakyat with your sleight-of-hand tricks. We know better.