TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad should not spend any time overseeing the balance sheet of other countries, “Dr M: Develop high-cost economy”(July 1).

Like it or not, the United States is the richest and most powerful country in the world. This is so because the US is not really her leaders but her people. And the people of modern day America are not much different from the pioneers that braved the wilderness two or three hundred years ago. They were tough, hard-working, and religious people who created their fortune by working and made work the easy, convenient and simple way to live the American dream.

And by all means the American dream is still alive. Even today people from all over the world can go to America and build a good future if only they are willing to work. This does not happen as easily in any other country of the world, and certainly not in Malaysia.

The America pictured in newspapers and broadcast on TV is not the real America. The real American people value work because they value freedom above anything else and they know that the only way to keep one’s freedom is by working.

Yes, it is time that Malaysia also started to favour a work culture but this need not be achieved via high costs. Labourers and apprentices do not start out at the top of the ladder and therefore do not require a high salary. The love for the job and the satisfaction one gets for providing a useful service to others are also indispensable components of an equitable pay package.

The unexpected outpouring of sheer affection that came with the sudden demise of pop superstar Michael Jackson also attests to the fact that talent is always the product of love, no matter how unconventional its outwardlymanifestation. The real America knows that, and as long as it possesses that knowledge it will remain the greatest country in the world.

Marisa Demori
Ipoh