100 storeys of doubt

Opinion

What a distance we have travelled. From a time when we were practically defined by our pride and obsession with having the tallest, longest and widest of anything to a point today when the mere proposition of another such project has created the biggest buzz of any Malaysian page on Facebook, with 200,000 people registering their opposition.

The 20- to 30-somethings today somehow seem to be a breed completely divorced from the rakyat of the 80s. They do not think that the government knows best, they seem to have an opinion on everything, accountability is their mantra, and horror of horrors, they seem to always find a way of making themselves heard, at home and overseas.

Why such a massive reaction to what is after all just another skyscraper? Is it because it was announced during the Budget by the prime minister, with a colossal price tag and the attendant fears of wastage of public funds, overruns and corruption? Or is it because we feel that we already have really tall buildings and believe that there are other, more worthy projects where this five billion ringgit could be spent?

The answer could be a combination of all of these but at a slightly deeper level it seems to be a rejection of the symbolism of the mega, the gargantuan. The comments on the anti-Warisan Merdeka page on Facebook seem to define the protest as the final nail in the coffin of the era of chest thumping statements over substance, hammered in by a new generation of voters.

Defenders of the project are quick to point out our earlier pride in the symbolic, as epitomised by the Petronas twin towers, Putrajaya and the Penang Bridge. So why has our appetite for such things waned to this degree? It is not as if we have suddenly fallen out of love with the symbolic.

Indeed what could be more symbolic than a Facebook protest? No real people are physically involved, no marches and no loud speeches-the real and the tangible are markedly absent. A Facebook protest is about youth, the anonymity and the freedom of the Internet, about a virtual community revelling in self expression sans danger.

In fact, by the real measure of any protest which is its ability to extract change, the protest is a failure. It seems to have vanished as fast as it appeared. It could be argued that the symbolic act of protest was much more important to the online community than the result itself.

Why was the 100-storey building as the focus of online protest and not anything else like racist principals or the PKFZ scandal? Simply put, the incredibly ham-handed communication techniques employed.

At Budget time, every finance minister wants to talk up the economy, show a clear path to prosperity and deliver that intangible feel good factor by promising some exciting new things worth investing in.

Ideally, it should be wrapped in a symbolic, easy to understand project. At first glance, a 100-storey tower seems like just what the doctor ordered. The problem is that that the doctor prescribed it before already, it cost a bomb and the patient at best can’t really see any improvement.

At a time when the economy is wobbly, and mega corruption scandals are everyday, what was required was a new way to spend the money that resonated with the audience.

First, five billion ringgit is a lot of money for anyone. Taxpayers want to see some benefit in it for them, in a way they can understand rather than on purely emblematic acts. In today’s world, the need for KLIA and the Penang Bridge are easily understood, Putrajaya and the new palace less so.

Secondly, the symbol chosen should communicate the intent of the presenter. If the highlight of the Budget had been a billion ringgit for expanding tertiary education scholarship funding on a merit basis, the reaction would have been very different.

The symbolism of investment in education as well as the deserving less fortunate is very compelling. The five billion ringgit building could still have come up if deemed essential by PNB, with none of the backlash. Presented the way it was, it seemed an insult to the memory and intelligence of the receiver.

It’s unfortunate but true that today symbols are our shorthand for opinion making. This 100-storey symbol that was chosen, showed spectacular lack of understanding of the mood of the audience and served to highlight the importance of message management in local politics.

Kapil is an advertising strategist turned brand consultant based in KL, who likes nothing better than to figure out why people behave the way they do. Naturally this forces him to spend most of his time lounging in coffeeshops and bars. He can be reached at kapilanski@yahoo.com

NOV 28 —