My schoolteacher friend who received her brand new over-priced computer was telling me some of her problems when school reopens this week. Firstly, she said, there is no money for the school to buy chalks and papers. On the registration day, the teachers were ordered to ask for donations from parents in order to meet the stationery needs of the1,000-pupil national type secondary school in Johor Baru.

Another teacher friend who is a head teacher laments that she had asked the Education Ministry for 10 new teachers about a year ago but has yet to get any. So dear Malaysians, what is going on? There are talks by the government to spend billions on computers, software and new English text books but there are no chalks, paper and teachers?