What's the point of pouring water on a house after it has burnt down? So that the people who let it happen can sleep better?

In Malaysia, sadly, there are two common tendencies afflicting our officials.

The first is reacting after the fact. Following a catastrophe where some unlucky people have died, you can expect bucketfuls of "initiatives" promised to ensure that the event will not recur.

This may work, if the proposals are executed, maintained and eventually insitutionalised. Unfortunately, it is rarely the case here.

Because following right behind this first tendency is the second, which is better expressed in the Malay idiom, " hangat-hangat tahi ayam ".

Three months after the event, you can bet that the officials have forgotten their promise. And complacency settles back in. Until another similar disaster hits. Then we go through the cycle all over again.

And so it is with the call to conduct a national survey on Indian squatters.

You will spend hundreds of thousands of ringgit to do this on a knee-jerk reaction. Three months later, the results will be left collecting dust on someone's shelf. And we will be none the wiser.

P Victor, who wrote [#1] Survey is to hear what people want [/#] (March 20), may beg to differ. To which I need only point to the Highland Towers tragedy: Has it stopped hilltop projects from taking place?

If so, then why was there panic over the Bukit Bandaraya apartments last year?

But then again, I am just an airhead. So what do I know about spending people's money in a responsible manner?