E Contrario

Glory glory to our space traveler!

Our glorious space traveling hero Dr SMS has safely returned to the base in Kazakhstan today (21 Oct).

I don’t understand why Malaysian government is so reluctant to admit our Dr SMS is a space tourist. Actually there is nothing to be ashamed about.

Space tourism is a cutting edge industry. It is the next horizon for the tourism industry. The Russian and American scientists are working hard on this frontier. During the Cold War, the USSR and the USA poured billions of government fund into space programs. It burnt a big hole in the US treasury, and drove Communist Russia into bankruptcy.

Today, the superpowers are smarter. Their taxpayers won’t allow government to waste money space exploration if there is no economic gains. This is where our participation comes in.

Knowing that traveling in outer space is a dream for every kid on Earth (from the influence of Sci-fi movies: Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, etc), Russian and American realized that there is big money to be made. In the last 5 decades, the two superpowers had invested huge sum of money but time has come that their research must be commercially profitable (further reading on space tourism I recommend Robert Goehlich).

The two arch-enemies now entered into a new race: competing to sell travel package for adventurous individuals who have extra money in their pockets.

In other countries, such an adventure would be bourne by aspiring billionaires. But not Malaysia, our government is willing to pay for the joy to be shared by the whole nation. Dr SMS should not be too troubled by not being recognized as bone fide astronaut. More so, Malaysian government should not be too worried if the people are not convinced with the scientific values of the venture.

Hey, science is not everything! Malaysians should be more focused on faith. First, faith in God—as Dr SMS did—his paramount concern was to find the Kitblat to perform prayers in heaven (Malaysiakini Oct 9). Second, faith in the Government—that everything it does is for the benefit of the people. With faith, we need not be too preoccupied with the usefulness of our scientific experiments.

Malaysian people should be told, the truth is that it is most privileged to participate in this futuristic tourism program. We should be told that despite miserable failure in our Visit Malaysia Year project, we are advancing into space tourism. And we the taxpayers should also be told that the government spent a helluva of our good money in it. So we have no choice, but to be proud, and feel good!

By the way, we must be grateful to DPM Najib. Earlier people complained that he paid too much on the 18 units of Sukhoi 30-MKM. No doubt Najib purchased these fighter jets at a much higher price than other countries. Now we know, our money is well spent as it earned us a privilege to travel in outer space.

Don’t blame Najib. People thought he got a fat commission out of the deal. Surely it was not true, he must have generously sacrificed part of his commission to contribute to Dr SMS’ trip so that we can see the “Jalur Gemilang” flying in space.

Let’s celebrate Malaysia Boleh!