Looking at the list below, it looks like the BN government is more determined to help themselves rather than the citizens. And this list below is hardly exhaustive as these are the ones uncovered so far – the tip of the ice-berg, if you will. What lies beneath could be much larger :

The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit) wasted;

The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s is believed to have cost some US$500 million (RM1.6 billion);

Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia RM30 billion in the 1990s;

Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion). (Eric Chia was charged with corruption for allegedly steering US$20 million (RM64 million) to a Hong Kong-based company.);

Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. operation to shore up the stock market;

Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam;

The sale of MV Agusta by Proton for one euro making a loss of US$75.99 million (RM348 million);

Wang ehsan from oil royalty in Terengganu amounting to RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007;

For the past 10 years since the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500 million;

The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching maths and science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipment of which the breakdown of costs is unknown;

The commission paid for the purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies, Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million;

RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion ‘crooked, scenic half-bridge’;

RM1.3 billion has been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge;

RM100 million spent on the parliament building for renovations and to patch up leaks;

National Astronaut Programme (Angkasawan) - RM40 million;

National Service Training Programme - yearly an estimate of RM500 million;

‘Eye on Malaysia’ giant ferris wheel - RM30 million and another RM5.7 million of free tickets;

RM4.63 billion 'soft-loan' to Port Klang Free Trade Zone (PKFTZ);

RM2.4 million for purchase of indelible ink for FE2008 which was not used;

Bailouts –

Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System at RM7.9 billion;

Putra LRT transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion;

Star LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion;

National sewerage system (Indah Water) bailout costing RM192.54 million;

Seremban – Port Dickson highway bailout costing RM142 million;

Kuching prison buidling project bailout costing RM135 million;

‘Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam’ project bailout costing RM8.3 million;

‘Le Tour de Langkawi’ cycling race bailout costing RM3.5 million;

And let’s not forget the APs scandal that has been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades involving a mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgit.

And since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering RM30 billion in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who are making huge profits. In addition, there was much wastage and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low-price of oil then.

Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of the prime minister only, we have absolutely no idea what the amount is.

In a Time Asia ’s issue on March 15, 2004, a South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore, Daniel Lian, figures ‘that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption...’

Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastage and mismanagement which would increase the amount. If the above list (which could have been money saved) is added to the nation's coffers and together with Petronas' profits; palm oil profits and profits from agriculture produce, aqua-culture produce, electronic and hardware exports etc, for the past five decades, we can all agree on one thing – our country would be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil.

The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre!