MERDEKA 118, touted as the catalyst that would energise the economy of “Malaysia’s Family”, as Utusan Malaysia, puts it, was launched by the Prime Minister in a glitzy event matching the status of the tallest tower in the region.

This 118-floor skyscraper is yet another towering achievement by recent Barisan Nasional premiers alongside the 106-floor TRX Tower. Which then brings us to the billion-dollar question over who will reside in these 224 floors worth of office space in the midst of a commercial property glut.

It seems that there is this infatuation for government-linked entities to build or own towers even when it doesn’t really make much sense to do so. It’s as if building or taking over a high rise in the capital is part and parcel of operating a government-linked corporation in Malaysia.

Felda, a plantation conglomerate, built its own tower right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur’s financial district. Then, we have Tabung Haji, which already owns a tower, recently bought another high rise in the city. Almost every government-owned bank has their own tower, and even Pernas, an entity under the Finance Ministry whose sole purpose is to promote franchising in Malaysia, has to have its own tower in Kerinchi. Is it because promoting franchises takes a lot of space up?

The thing about expensive skyscrapers is that they don’t really create jobs nor spur economic growth. Apart from construction work, which is heavily dependent on cheap foreign labour, and various forms of building maintenance, there is hardly any direct contribution in regards to job creation.

No conglomerate, corporation or tech giant ever made the decision to invest in a country based on its availability of fancy skyscrapers. Count the number of skyscrapers there are in Silicon Valley, and try to correlate that with the growth of innovation and new forms of wealth creation coming from it.

Perhaps here lies the crux of our problem; our political and ruling class has over the years prioritised form over substance. One could speculate that it is the natural outcome of a feudalistic political culture that puts priority on pomp and pageantry.

However, one can also argue that these massive erections serve a more practical purpose than just a mere ego boost; they are also convenient justifications to spend billions of ringgit worth of public money.

After all, in all of these massive spending wastages, God forbid if no one is making some money out of it.

Sadly, and I hope I am wrong in assuming this, government agencies, departments and various forms of government-linked corporations or entities will be filling up the tenancy of these empty spaces as they slowly work their way up from this glut.

They will probably justify it as a ‘Bumiputera’ initiative, as they usually do. Let’s face it, chances are there is nothing much that can be done as the structures have been erected and they are here to stay.

However not all is lost, what we can do is to call it as it is. Don’t simply allow the narrative to be set by a series of smokescreen lingo such as “unlocking billions worth of potential valuation”.

It’s about time we stop buying into this rhetoric. While this may not reverse what has been done, it can educate an entire generation of voters to be more critical. It’s about time we demand a better culture from our politicians that puts substance over form.

Yes. Congratulations Malaysia, we now have the second tallest tower in the world. However, it won’t mean much if it ends up being the second emptiest.

*Zaidel Baharuddin is Parti Muda information chief.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.