It does not matter despite the shuttle seems to have gone beyond the baseline on video replays as Datuk Lee Chong Wei has won the All-England Championship. Two Lotus Racing cars successfully finished their maiden F1 race and were ranked in 15th and 17th places. It does not matter either as we have already expected it earlier.

Based on his own hard work, Lee has won 12 Super Series championships. By spending a lot of money, the Malaysian Lotus F1 Racing team hopes to make a beautiful dream that can polish the country's name. But it is just a dream after all.

Before the race was started, Lotus Racing team principal Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes joked: "The Malaysian team can win as we have bomoh. We will put on rain tyres and ask our bomoh to call for rain." Unfortunately, it was a sunny Sunday in Bahrain.

It is still encouraging as the Lotus cars were able to finish the race. They were doing better than some experienced teams, including the British Virgin Racing F1 team which was unable to finish the race.

However, as there were falling two or three circles behind, people would naturally focus only on Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Who would care about the Malaysian team? It was worthless to spend money on it.

How much money do we have to spend on the Malaysian F1 team? An accurate figure has not been stated. It is reported that RM308 million is estimated to be spent in the first racing season. And RM15 million is needed annually to train local F1 drivers. According to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, it does worth it as it will be much more expensive for TV commercials.

There are many ways if you want to promote Malaysia.

You will need only US$20 million to advertise on NBA jersey. And you need only £250,000 to £2 million to sponsor Premier League jersey for middle or lower teams. Games played by Manchester United and Arsenal attract 1 billion viewers worldwide but F1 races attract only 600 million viewers. Which is cheaper and cost-effective? The answer is obvious enough.

It is not only the question of money, but the government does not even know the strength of the country. It hasbeen carried away by the slogan of "Malaysia Boleh". From the national cars to the heavy industry, sending people to the space and forming the F1 racing team, they are trying to have a meteoric rise.

Toyota is a good lesson. It joined F1 since eight years ago and it had participated in 139 major races. However, it gained the Pole Position only for three times and stood on the podium for 13 times. It withdrew because of poor results and losses. F1 does not bring Toyota a great honour but its negligence in management has caused quality problems. As a result, Toyota has to recall 8 millions of cars.

The current strengths of Malaysia are not in technology. Instead, we are still in the child stage of technology. We should first lay a solid foundation and enhance education standards before we can pursue for high technology. Buying technology or honour with money cannot prove that "Malaysia boleh".

It is very sad to see the Malaysian F1 team making a fool of itself in the race but it is so enjoyable to see Lee landing the All-England crown. How far the difference is! (By LIM SUE GOAN/Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/Sin Chew Daily)