12.2m RM5,000 cut-out of Anwar - money could be better spent

I was shocked and disappointed when I read about this LARGE cut-out of Anwar - in Batu. I expected PKR to be different...

The 12.2m high cutout of PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Batu Caves has drawn mixed reactions from the residents and politicians.

Selayang Municipal Council president Zainal Abidin Azim said Batu Caves assemblyman Amirudin Shari had submitted for approval the cutout which stands in front of Wisma Keringat in Batu Caves last month and the council approved it.

“I feel there is no reason this cutout should be an issue,’’ he said about the giant structure which is akin to those used to promote Bollywood stars.

However, Barisan Nasional assemblymen who are against the cutout costing RM5,000 that was put up on Sept 28 argued on religious grounds that it would be tantamount to idolising Anwar and that was prohibited in Islam.

Larger than life: The giant cutout of Anwar in Batu Caves.

Kuang assemblyman Abdul Shukur Idrus said, as a Muslim, Amirudin should know better than to put up the cutout. - Star, 7/10/2008 - Council-approved giant cutout of Anwar draws flak

Some of the BN politicians are trying to steer this issue down another road - i.e. whether it is Islamic or not. Whether such 'idolization' of a man is Islamic or not?

I shall not even go there. For me, the concern is why is MONEY being wasted here. That RM5,000 could have been better used for so many things.

Also PKR (and the Pakatan Rakyat) should discourage their wakil rakyats and their supporters from wasting money in this manner...

Pakatan Rakyat appointed Selayang Municipal Council approved this - I wonder how much is being charged per month. In Temerloh, it cost about RM70-00 per banner at one of the LOcal Council's pre-defined location - Last Raya, I put up a banner wishing the rakyat of Temerloh selamat hari raya...just to see whether an ordinary lay-person could also put up such banners...

So, I wonder how much money the Selayang Municipal Council made from the one who put up this 12.2 m cut-out -- or there were no fees payable.

I have always wondered whether the BN and their 'wakil rakyat' and their component parties pay for the banners and posters they put up because some of them just do not have that little reference number that is placed by the Local Councils showing that these are approved posters, where the required payments have been made...

Talking about this Anwar cut-out, I remember how Mohd Najib Razak's image also suddenly appereared in some mural/painting before even Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chose him as the Deputy Prime Minister...