Malaysians enjoy sponsored World Cup, Singaporeans sponsor Trump-Kim summit
by Augustine Low Singaporeans cannot be faulted for casting envious glances at our neighbours and wondering what on earth is happening. They threw out their government after 61 years and suddenly n…
by Augustine Low
Singaporeans cannot be faulted for casting envious glances at our neighbours and wondering what on earth is happening. They threw out their government after 61 years and suddenly national pride has shot up and euphoria is running high.
To add to their joy, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced to Malaysians that they will get to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup live on TV – thanks to private sponsorship to cover the RM30 million (SS10 million) broadcasting cost.
In contrast, Singaporeans have to pay $112.35 – same as in 2014 – to watch the World Cup. SingTel, StarHub and Mediacorp paid a combined $25 million to secure the broadcast rights.
While the Malaysians enjoy the World Cup free for one month, from June 14 to July 15, Singaporeans will have in their backyard the Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un one-day summit on June 12.
Singapore as the host country has the bear the cost of providing comprehensive security and logistics arrangements, and possibly even the hotel stay for the North Korean delegation. Sponsorship for the summit (courtesy of taxpayers!) is expected to run into millions of dollars.
In Malaysia, there’s also the instant rollback of GST to ease the pain (to be replaced by the sales and services tax), while Singapore is heading in the opposite direction – a hike in GST is on the cards.
And the salaries of Malaysian ministers – already low – have been cut by 10%, while the salaries of Singapore ministers – astronomically top-of-the-world – have been kept unchanged.
There are massive challenges ahead and the feel-good in Malaysia may not last forever. But who knows, if the leaders get their act together and the people rally together, there could be more honey and sunshine to come.
We shall see.
For the time being, it seems Singaporeans are the envious ones, especially with the World Cup only coming around once every four years.
The Trump-Kim summit?
There will be ramped-up security, road blocks, spot checks and traffic disruption all around. Singaporeans will have to bear with it for that one day. In contrast, the World Cup offers one-month of sheer drama and entertainment.
Who is getting the better part of the bargain?
Augustine Low is a proud but concerned citizen. Voicing independent, unplugged opinion is his contribution to citizen engagement.
This entry was posted in Opinion.
