My primary school was built in 1925 out of bricks and mortar, three stories tall.

I entered that school in 1950. It was in good condition then. I spent six years in that school and never saw a structural failure, not even a broken pipe.

We had a playground that had at least four baseball fields (each equivalent to a football field) on it, with playground equipment that never needed repairs in the six years I was there.

That school is still standing and serving students today.

I visited my youngest son's school in Bukit Beruntung. It is barely one-year-old and it has many areas needing maintenance and repair. It has no playground of equivalent size.

Its construction is not worthy of a good-government project. It is not conducive to learning. He is his class' best student, listed as number one.

I will send him to a private school next term. I will not leave him in a school so shoddily built and so poorly maintained.

Seems like too many things here do not or cannot work because there is no money. Trouble is, there is a dearth of will as well. Seems as if the only light on is the light that drives the people to wealth and acquisition. Pity.