The minister of Tourism’s unveiling of his new brainstorm earlier this week unleashed a barrage of bemused comments on the Net. Indeed, Michael Sik Yuen revealed that he plans to lure masters of kitsch Céline Dion and Elton John to Mauritius in a bid to attract more visitors to our shores. Has a quainter idea ever been hatched? And although the posters on lexpress.mu took a not-so-guilty pleasure in calling his bluff, their criticisms were largely justified.

You see, it’s not just Sik Yuen’s wishful thinking that got their hackles up. Rather, they seemed tired of always hearing the same cockamamie schemes being dished up, while the real issues of the day continue to go unattended. Wakey wakey minister, it’s time to rise and shine.

Over the years, tourism has become an increasingly important source of revenue for the country, to the point that it now accounts for almost a third of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Considering its importance for the economy, one would like to think that those entrusted with promoting the industry perceive their roles as being a bit more strategic than organizing events and deciding which of our (two) slogans is the less stupid. More importantly still, one hopes that they realize that promoting the industry also means protecting its assets, rather than, say, pimping them out in an attempt to temporarily drive arrival figures up.

Will the West ever emerge from the economic madhouse? One day perhaps. By the time it happens though, many countries will be virtually unrecognizable from their pre-2008 selves. It’d been evident for some time that the balance of economic power was shifting eastwards but fi nancial crisis and subsequent aftershocks signifi cantly precipitated the process. As a result, most governments failed to address issues like deindustrialization and their come up with the necessary alternatives.

Then again, the behaviour of several EU member  countries indicates that they wouldn’t have lifted a finger even if given suffi cient warning. And now they’re digging themselves into even deeper holes with so-called austerity programmes that will do little else than contract their economies. Two wrongs make a right apparently. Well, the party must’ve been fun while it lasted.

Contrast the West’s moroseness with the vibrancy of the Southeast Asian countries. In this day and age, a city like Kuala Lumpur is an infi nitely more attractive proposition than London or Paris. A striking feature of this up and coming metropolis is its determination to look resolutely forward. It too was a British colony but you don’t hear people there waffling on and on about the damage done by colonialism. So, coming to terms with the past is essential if a nation wants to move forward. It’s about time we seriously considered doing so here.

Oh, and Kuala Lumpur also boasts the world’s biggest walk-in aviary. Which is nice.

Nicholas RAINER