Over the last couple of weeks, the national newspapers have brought the plight of sampling Malaysians to the fore. We in the city are often blinded to the poverty-stricken rural areas where many are finding it hard to make ends meet.

A couple of years ago I was in Merbok, Kedah and heard the factory workers there talk about the financial difficulty they faced in buying school books, shoes and uniforms for their children when school reopened.

It was a shame on the federal government when 18-year-old Ahmad Harizal Ahmad Fauzi photo of him in handcuffs appeared on the front page of newspapers when he was thrown into jail for not attending the National Service programme despite the fact that he had to work to support his siblings and mother.

Then we have the case of family furniture shop worker Jamal Harun and his wife Siti Rogayah Sharuddin in Malacca who almost sold their unborn child for RM30,000 (to a Singaporean couple) to pay for the heart surgery of their eldest son Muhammad Mikail.

These are real hardships which the poor in our country go through. Many are able to feed themselves as long as no illness or accidents occur.

Contrast this with the millions of ringgit lost to corruption each day and on the wanton spending of public funds on unnecessary projects and perks for civil servants, politicians and their cronies.

For example, town councillors in Shah Alam getting fully-furnished bungalows with swimming pools and a club house. For many of them, this would merely act as second homes.

If our national resources were had not been wastefully spent on 'ego projects', the government would still be able to subsidise the price of petrol and diesel thus helping the many Malaysians who are finding it hard to make ends meet.

Rather than being wasted, public funds should be effectively used to help the destitute and the poor in our country. To all the Ahmad Harizals and Jamal Haruns out there, our hearts are with you.

The Malaysian people are very united when it comes to helping each other especially those that are oppressed, downtrodden or destitute. The Malaysian people are, however, becoming restless and fed up with graft, corruption and cronyism which is everywhere.