The new Istana Negara Report!

Questioning the monarchy is a dangerous area to talk about in Malaysia!
I will try to do so carefully! Back in 2006 the govt launch the project to build a new "istana" for the King.
It was suppose to be complete by 2009 at a cost of RM400million.
(source from Bernama and the Star)

However it is coming to the end of 2009 and the Istana is no where near completed and the cost of the Istana has balloon up to RM1.1billion!
(source from Malaysiakini)

WHY HAS THE COST GONE UP BY MORE THAN 100%??

The new Jln Duta Istana will sit on 96.52 hectars of land!

THAT's equivalent to 2.3 MidValley Cities, 4.9 KLCC parks, 209 Khir Toyo mansions, and 3,472 average semi-D houses (at 3,000 sq ft each). Our present Istana Negara, on Jalan Istana, is a historic building dating back to 1928, and it sits on 11 hectares of land. Our new Istana therefore represents a nine-fold increase in the amount of land that has been set aside for our Malaysian royalty. (source from Nut Graph)

I wonder how most Malaysian feel about this 1.1billion ringgit project at a time of economic crisis where the govt is suppose to try very hard to balance its budget deficit!

Biro Tata Negera propagates to the Malays that "outsiders" have come and stolen all their wealth!

I wonder what BTN lecturers has to say about the Istana.

I like what the author of the Nut Graph article wrote.

"...we live in a constitutional monarchy. That means that our monarchs are accountable to us."

"Where in Malaysia can we have such an open, fearless debate on our monarchical institutions? In the UK, open public debate has not resulted in anarchy and the monarchy's dissolution. Rather, it has resulted in a monarchy that has incentive to remain relevant to the people over whom it constitutionally governs, and also continues to be, on the whole, well loved by the majority of British.
That begs the question: Are our royals afraid of what the people think of them that they need to be protected from public opinion? "

"In Malaysia, I, for one, have no idea how much the rakyat spends on our constitutional monarchs. And I am quite sure that there have been no studies or inquiry commissions into this. Unfortunately, in Malaysia, asking for monarchical accountability of their expenses will probably be construed as derhaka, or hasutan against our royal institution."

"There are not even, so far as I am aware, any polls of enquiry regarding the general popularity of the various monarchs and their families, let alone published accounts of royal expenditure.
Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, all royal projects are obliged to be conducted by open tender, but as PAS's Mahfuz Omar has pointed out, Projek Istana Negara was not, and the project's costs have suffered as a result. Initially slated to cost around RM400 million, our new Istana Negara is about to cost the nation RM1.1 billion instead."

"Are the royal families not, according to the precepts of constitutional monarchy, legally bound to the Malaysian constitution, and thus at least financially accountable to the people? Should we, the people, not have some say in how we ourselves are financing our Supreme Heads of State?"