Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
News
Is he an astronaut or space tourist?
Published:  Oct 12, 2007 1:13 PM
Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM

Did our man go through the normal procedure to be qualified as a full-fledged astronaut? Little wonder Nasa hesitates to recognise his status.

On Our man in space: M'sians over the moon

Munti-D: At last, a Malaysian has been rocketed to space. What a joyous achievement! But while the whole nation is now in a sea of euphoria, something seems amiss.

A true astronaut undergoes tough and extraneous training, both physically as well as mentally, and it takes years. The person should have a good knowledge of the related area in science, and a deep understanding of the technology involved. Did our man go through the normal procedure to be qualified as a full-fledged astronaut?

Little wonder Nasa hesitates to recognise his status . Of course, one may say this is immaterial, or simply superfluous. But suppose our man happens to be just another US$20 million space tourist, then one would question who authorised such extravagance. Was it worth it to squander this much money just to promote the national ego?

Did I hear someone giggling?

Charlie Chan: It is unbelievable that Malaysia now has its first astronaut. What is this going to achieve except a complete waste of money? Given that Malaysia's standard of education is among the lowest in the world, this large sums of funds could be utilised to improve the education of our under-privileged citizens.

Many developed countries including Japan, Germany, Australia, UK, etc. do not join the space programme because it serves zero purpose. Malaysia is third world country but want to emulate countries like United States and Russia. Abdullah should set his priorities right before embarking on these mundane crusades. Let's improve our university standards first...

Proud To Be Malaysian: Oct 10, 2007 is a historical day indeed for Malaysians because this is the day our astronaut goes to space. All Malaysians are proud of this achievement of ours.

Malaysia is the fourth nation in the world, after the United States, Russia and China, to send its astronaut to space. (Other nationalities went to space too, but they did not do it under their nations' names and their endeavours were not funded by their nations.) We are even better than the Japanese!

Amidst the euphoria of this space thing, I would like to make a suggestion: Before we send more astronauts to space, it would be nice if we develop our own space programme. We could start our programme by designing, building and launching our own made-in-Malaysia rockets which are capable of carrying our astronauts to space.

That way, we can be assured that we are in control of our space programme and that our programme will not be interrupted and sabotaged by some nations which, for any reasons whatsoever, refuse to take our astronauts to space in future.

Furthermore, we would save an astronomical amount of taxpayers' money by launching our own rockets. (We paid US$25 million, or about RM90 million, for this space project when we bought fighter jets from Russia , which costed us another US$900 million, or RM3.2 billion.

On Deadline ends - PKR duo to protect source

Alfred Ho: Fancy trying to intimidate the two whistleblowers, instead of investigating the actual culprits, i.e, Lingam and Fairuz. These are the actions of a government that has to hide the truth so as to hoodwink the public into believing that there are no problems with the judiciary. With the advent of the Internet, the public is intelligent enough to know as to who is telling the truth.

May I suggest that should legal action be taken against the two members of PKR, as loyal citizens of Malaysia, we should hold a peaceful march to show our displeasure with the current government and all its unfair practices. Maybe people power is the solution to all our problems.

JTB: In the event they think that Siva and Tze Tzin has committed an offence so vile for not revealing the whistleblower, they are dead wrong. As it stand, the ACA are viewed as a BN stooge.

Arrest them by all means, I am sure there are many Malaysian who are prepared to take care of them. If indeed banana leave lunch and dinner with tandoori chicken is your pleasure, we will ensure that you will be well-fed. I suggest you do not touch the food in the lock-up. Who knows what it may contain? As for Tze Tzin, your favourite 'bak kut teh' will be served too.

Bar Council, are you ready to march again?

On BN's tradition of quotas protects non-Malays

Alex Tan Ken Seng: Dato' Lee Hwa Beng said that Malays will only vote for Malays, and no other race. As a BN member, isn't that a racist thing for him to say? Or is Dato' Lee essentially admitting that BN really is racist (as different from race-based)?

I suggest that Dato' Lee forget about such complicated intellectual issues as that raised by Gerakan, and concentrate on providing Subang Jaya citizens with clean water in their pipes. Luckily for Dato' Lee, although I'm staying at Subang Jaya, I am registered as a voter in a different constituency.

On Hui Yi a bright streak of light

Peter Ooi: I would like to share the joy of Hui Yee on receiving a new heart. May God bless her with speedy recovery and would soon be able to enjoy life to the fullest.

In this moment of joy, my heart goes to the parents of the donors. Rest assured that their two children did not die in vain. My prayers goes to their departed souls and a place in heaven is assured for them.

Not to forget are the heroes of the country - the pilots , the ambulance drivers, nurses and our fabulous team of surgeons and doctors. They worked tirelessly through the night while others are comfortably asleep. No one really knew their heroic deeds until it is reported on the media.

To me, any event worth live broadcasting the nation, it is this particular event. TV should be giving live coverage to the operation and thereby highlighting our real heroes, the surgeons and nurses and not the launching of our first space tourist.

ADS