Malaysians Wonder If Selangor S Planned Heroic Homecoming For Gsf Volunteers Is Justified

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AS Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim scored many brownie points from detractors for his incessant push for the release of 23 Malaysian Global Sumud Fotilla (GSF) activists, cost-conscious Malaysians are seemingly against the ‘brave souls’ being overzealously cherished for their heroics.
“All praises to Allah SWT that our 23 heroes and heroines have safely arrived in Istanbul, Türkiye (they departed Israel at 6.45pm Malaysian time yesterday [Oct 4]),” updated PMX in his Facebook page.

“All of them will now be given health checks, comprehensive support and assistance, including psychological aspects.
“(Malaysian) government machinery under auspices of the Foreign Ministry in Istanbul will ensure a smooth process to bring them back to Malaysia in the near future.”
Aside from the national level support, plans are afoot by the Selangor state government to provide other forms of assistance for the GSF participants upon their return to Malaysia, according to Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
This includes the use of state government-owned hotels as transit centres for the Malaysian delegation in addition to an allocation of RM1 mil to the Malaysian International Humanitarian Centre (MIHC) to strengthen the centre’s role in carrying out humanitarian missions in Gaza and addressing domestic disasters.

“Some of these contributions can be used immediately for their needs upon their arrival at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport),” Amirudin told a media conference after touring the Sumud Nusantara Command Centre in Sepang on Friday (Oct 3) night.
“We want to ensure the flotilla team receives a warm welcome and strong support – not only physically but also in terms of the quality of preparations and strategy.”
But not everyone concurred with the Selangor Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman as a self-proclaimed insurance agent who lives in Sitiawan, Perak pleaded to differ:
“Tolong beri kepada ANGGOTA BOMBA BOMBA YANG JIHAD KEPADA MANGSA MANGSA KEMALANGAN JALAN RAYA / BENCANA BENCANA …” (Literally, “Please give to the FIREFIGHTERS WHO ARE JIHADISTS TO THE VICTIMS OF ROAD ACCIDENT/DISASTERS …”)


True the age-old adage charity starts from home, some presumably Selangorians, too, feel that such funding would be better off channelled to assist underprivileged groups in the state such as the “Orang Asli in Serendah”, “to solve many problems in Little India” or even to mend “broken infrastructure” such as roads and bridges.

Others simply were unable to hide their sarcasm, hence toying about the possibility of Datukship being dished out.

Some insinuated that the so-called activists/volunteers are already well-aware of the consequences of participating in the high-risk humanitarian mission, hence it would be unnecessary to waste taxpayers’ money on them.

At the end of the day, one commenter aptly wondered if the goodwill is part of a vote buying process in anticipation of the 16th General Election (GE16). 

 
- Focus Malaysia

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