JULY 18 — It is now as easy as going to a 7-11 to make a donation to Tabung Harapan. How convenient! How absolutely unnecessary.

I am tired of the continual mantra about the 1MDB debt and repayments, and how the more gullible of our citizens think national debt works the same way as personal debt.

No, Maureen, we are unlikely to default on 1MDB and even if for some reason we do, no one is going to take Perlis away.

The government shouldn’t accept money from children’s piggy banks to "pay off our debts" when Tabung Harapan’s effectiveness for that purpose would be the equivalent of peeing in the sea to fill up the ocean.

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If you know anything about how economies work, the simplest version is that all countries have debt. Debt to each other, debt to various local and foreign banks or funds, and many other financial instruments such as bonds also come into play.

Remember Greece? Poor Greece had to rely on bailout after bailout but on such horrible terms -- measures of austerity that pretty much ensured there would be no growth in the economy whatsoever.

Dear Malaysians, we are not Greece. Yes, our previous prime minister had questionable spending habits and suspicious sources of income but he has not managed to beggar us.

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We do not need to "tighten our belts." Stop saying nonsense like that. If the government doesn’t spend, the economy won’t grow. If the economy won’t grow, people won’t have money to spend.

Anyhow that’s how I justify my spending too much money at Sephora — I’m just doing my patriotic duty.

It boggles the mind Malaysians will so easily donate money to Tabung Harapan and yet Skolafund, a crowdsourcing venture to help needy students, couldn’t meet its funding goals.

The money goes to real kids, who need real help to fund their studies and they need that money urgently. Did they get it? No, it missed the million ringgit goal while Tabung Harapan was raking in the dough.

Yes, it is important to cut bloat and address leakages. Finally stop Malaysian contractors from selling RM300 screwdriver sets to the government. But if the government suddenly decides austerity measures are in order, I suggest that Malaysians ask for their money back.

Austerity measures are not actually helpful — priming the pump matters. There are plenty of ways to address wastage and corruption but punishing our citizens shouldn’t be one of them. That’s what austerity measures really are; punishing citizens unnecessarily for no good reason.

Now if someone will please dissuade our prime minister from making yet another national car, that will truly be both patriotic and something for which every Malaysian will be grateful.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.