You could almost hear the Malaccans whooping for joy as they high-fived each other, followed by a huge sigh of relief, when they read media reports that work on the RM21m Malacca tower had been suspended.

I was glad when I read that the construction of the expensive and unnecessary revolving tower was temporarily stopped because an ancient wall was discovered at the site. An 'un-Malaysian' thought surfaced in my mind, 'God bless the Portuguese who built that wall'!

However, my faith in the government is understandably almost non-existent. The two-week stop work order will probably only last that long - two weeks. After which, they'll probably argue that the wall is an unwanted reminder of our pitiable past when we were oppressed by Western powers and how, as a proud and free nation, we should stop giving recognition and glamourising our past colonialists. With that, the construction of the keris-shaped tower will resume and the ancient wall forgotten, just like the historical towers, forts and walls discovered beneath Dataran Pahlawan where the Megamall now stands.

The irony of it all is that the official line given by the government on the purpose of the tower is to draw more tourists to the state. Now, let's suspend reality for a second and assume that this is true and that the project has nothing to do with lining their wallets. Wuldn't it be wiser therefore to preserve any historical structures we are lucky enough to find? Isn't that what most people visit Malacca for - the authentic stuff?

A visit to the Melaka Museums Corporation's (Perzim) website showed that we now have 21 museums in Malacca, including a Muzium Kecantikan and a Muzium Layang-Layang (the website does not have an English version for non-Malaysians, by the way). Gosh, what is the point of having so many museums if we have no respect or appreciation for our beautiful Peranakan shophouses and centuries-old bastions which we continue to destroy?

I originally thought of changing my voting area from Malacca to KL for the next general elections, but I'm now reconsidering this. I think many of us have really had enough with Barisan Nasional and are ready to vote them out to save our hometown.