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Read from Internet that it costs the equivalent of RM90 million to send our Sheikh into space, though an earlier space tourist paid US$20 million (RM68 million at RM3.40 exchange rate) for the same ride.

Assuming that it takes RM500,000 for a 4-year course to train a medical doctor in Russia, then, what glorified one Malaysian would have given us 180 Russian-trained medical doctors who could do more good to the country. That's multiplier effect to our talent banks and human capital.

Simple arithmetics and simple economics. I didn't hear it at the newsroom meetings or the 4th Floor Putrajaya.

I heard it at the warung kopi. And that bothers me.

UPDATES: And The Scribe wrote this on the eve of Hari Raya:

But having sent a Malaysia to space and basking briefly in the glory of it, we must, as always, get back to the real world – the world of real people.

The world of the struggling farmers, fishermen, factory and office workers, small traders, taxi drivers, Tsunami and flood victims, single mothers, the sick and the destitute, the jobless and the unemployable.

There nothing wrong in sending one or more Malaysians to the space or having a month-long colourful 50th independent anniversary, scaling the Himalayas, walking across the poles, swimming the seas and sailing the oceans.

These and other magnificent feats are the manifestation of the Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia Can) spirit.

In the final analysis, however, it is the bread-and-butter issues such as the rising cost of living, the widening income gap, the falling rate of job creation, the rising rate of crime and the growing rate of drug addiction that matter.

Pardon me if I accidentally puncture your balloon and spoil your party.

That bothers me even more.