Have cash, will travel to the ends of the universe...

Korea’s 10 astronaut candidates, who passed the third round of tests, pose for a photograph late Thursday. Sitting fourth from left in the front row is the youngest contestant Park Ji-young, 23, and standing second from left in the rear row is the oldest competitor Lee Jin-young, 36.
Courtesy of the Ministry of Science and Technology

Taken from The Korea Times

I guess it was bound to happen. The two shortlisted Malaysians who are bound for the final frontier have yet to complete their training in Russia but hot on their heels another fellow Asian nation is already in the process of selecting their very own batch of wannabe cosmo-tourists. As you are reading this the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology has announced their shorlist of 10 candidates who will eventually be selected to be the first Korean cosmo-tourist. Yup, that's what I call it coz that's what it is. Cosmo tourism seems to be the trend among Asian countries these days. Seems like every nation worth its salt are willing to pay big moolah without batting an eyelid to send one or two of its citizens to float around in the vast emptiness of space.

Not since the Cold War during the 50s has the business of space exploration been so highly competitive. Back then it was a race between the colossuls of the United States and the former USSR. It was not only a competition to prove their mastery of space technology, but it was also a war of ideologies. The world back then was still recovering from the last war and neither side could afford to start another. And so they chose another arena to champion their own causes. In the vast emptiness of space, for all the world to see.

Now that that's over and done with. The big boys have come to the realization that in the their bid to be the best, they've footed quite a bill and burned up a motherload of their capital. It doesn't matter how much you can brag about how many primates you've sent into space. If you can't feed the citizens, there won't be anyone left to listen to your braggings and achievements. So having satisfied their curiosity of what lies beyond the rim, these guys come around and generously offer us a chance to whet our appetites to boldly go where no man has gone before. For a fee of course. And like rich spoilt children with nothing better to do but compete with each other for the sake of saving 'face', we were too eager to take the bait.

To be honest, I kind of expected this from Malaysia. We are after all the (in)famous for our lavish spending on architectual titans such as the Twin Towers, KLIA, and the whole of Sepang and Putrajaya. Add to that our overly optimistic but short-sighted 'Malaysia Boleh' attitude, spurred on by a pinch of kiasu-ism and it's no surprise really that we see ourselves yet again heading for the pages of the Malaysian Book of Records. This time for the most amount of money spent doing nothing! Unless of course, you consider playing a game of 'Batu Seremban' over a cuppa of homemade teh tarik whilst suspended in the dead of space a cause to raise the Jalur Gemilang proudly...It's not that M'sians are idiots (as much as I'd hate to admit it), it's just that we are mostly ignorant and fairly content to mull away in our own world. Some put it as 'minding our own business' as if it were a good thing. But I feel that it's just sad that we're not living up to our full potential just because we're too proud to admit our shortcomings and mistakes.

But then again, maybe I'm just being too negative. I should learn to be more Malaysian and adopt a more 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit. At least one good thing will come out of this. We'll finally unlock the secrets of making teh tarik in zero gravity!