The NEP is surely an ideal scheme had it been implemented in the manner it had been intended to.

But alas! We have seen a crop of unknown people becoming big-time contractors and in possession of an avalanche of APs making them instant millionaires while two-thirds of our fellow Malaysians struggle daily to bring food to the table.

It has to do with 'who you know' rather than 'what you know'.

It is time for Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to reorientate the appropriation of economic activities to the rural areas. Instead of spending billions of ringgit protecting Proton, use this money to build roads to the remote hinterlands and open up the land for the benefit of the rural people.

The tens of billions spent on bailing out failed companies owned by few privileged individuals would have been better spent if it had been used to develop the country's rural areas and uplift the standard of living of the people there.

Felda, Felcra et al are supposed to help the rural poor, but have they now changed course?

Lately we are talking about quality and meritocracy. But how can we get quality roads and other infrastructure when projects have to go through layers of sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors? How much money is left for the project after the funds go through this chain of the 'delivery system'?

Is it any wonder then when we get collapsing and fungus infested structures along the way.

Once again I would like to appeal to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to not forget the poor people in the kampung. Geniuses might be hiding amongst them waiting to be exposed.

Tolonglah Datuk Seri.