I just can't believe it! Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir is reportedly the scriptwriter of Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! the play now on at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur.

It is reported to have cost RM2 million, making it the most expensive play ever produced by Istana Budaya — and in Malaysia.

Abdul Kadir has never been known to write scripts before his appointment as the minister of the said ministry under which Istana Budaya falls.

Even if he had been writing for the theatre, it is his responsibility to stop doing it until his tenure as minister of the ministry is over.

One wonders if he is paid for his literary effort and how much. If so, shouldn't he be penalised for using his position to do what he had done? It is downright abuse of power.

Besides, this is hardly fair to the scriptwriters in Malaysia who have been struggling for years to have their scripts produced for television, film or theatre.

Malaysian writers have been known to spend years studying script writing either in Malaysia or abroad, yet they are not able to get their scripts produced.

Yet, here we have a minister of the ministry to which Istana Budaya is beholden, who is writing a script for the premiere production of the national cultural!

This reminds me of a time an officer in RTM's drama department was also acting in a television drama series and was reprimanded for that by the then information minister.

Yet, we are seeing this happening today. I hope someone will lodge a report over what Abdul Kadir had done so that the matter can be investigated.

The same with the director of Istana Budaya, Dr Hatta Azad Khan, who is reported to have cut down the script from 560 to 360 pages.

As the director of the theatre, his duty is not to edit or rewrite scripts. The job must be entrusted to professionals.

Hatta must decide if he wants to be the director of the theatre or its in-house editor.

Abdul Kadir must also decide if he wants to be the culture, arts and tourism minister or the Budaya in-house scriptwriter.

By doing what they had done, both had in fact abuse their position and earned from the project.

Surely both of them would have been paid handsomely, unless they had agreed not to receive payment?