of Jam Besaq and other stories......

Went for the first time this year to Bazar Ramadhan Jam Besaq. Went there once last year and kinda liked it. The food, the people, the smell and the noise. Its a myriad of events that reflects the true spirit of 1Malaysia. But this year, its different. Well, at least to me it is. The small are staller (spoonerism in action), the people are fewer (but managed to see a parade of manusia lembut membeli juadah), and the food? Hmmm after a few tunjuks by my wife, I am not impressed. And it seemed that the once a year spirit of intrepenuership is going down the drain. What I saw just now were only a few semangat Ramadhan retailers in action. Many of the stall operators are the current stall owners in the Jam Besaq foodcourt themselves. Are the rental too steep? Are the economic downturn playing its tricks to the others? Or there are just not enough money to be shared by the consumers in general? If the latter is the case, well, Dato' Seri Najib should be seriously looking at the possibility of handing out bonuses to the government servants like the good old days of Tun Mahathir's reign. According to the Mahathir's financial principles, if there are not enough money to be spent, hand out bonuses to trigger the economic CPR to make it alive. If I were to get a bonus, I'll spend it buying kuih, the kuih seller will use the same money to buy shoes, the shoes retailers will buy a few baju melayu, and the First Lady Boutiques owners will have to pay the corporate tax using that very money we spent and 28% (the current corporate tax rate) of it will go back to the government.... Why is it so easy, but nobody in the current government gets it? Why? Why?

post script: and a handsome amount of the said bonus will go to my students who are nice enough to go to 22, Persiaran Suasana 1, Harvard Suasana Resort this hari raya... he he he he...