CONGRATULATIONS to Chong Wei for his mighty feat at the Beijing Olympics.

He deserves all the accolades heaped on him for it was no easy task winning a silver medal in an event that featured the top players in the world.

I do not doubt that he is a patriotic Malaysian and that he puts nation before self. There was even a suggestion to “Give Chong Wei RM500,000″ instead of the RM300,000 he received (NST, Aug 25).

If he had won gold he would have been given a cool RM1million! RM300,000 is a lot of taxpayers’ money to be given to an individual (let alone RM500,000 or RM1 million) even in good times, what more in bad times as is the case now.

While not questioning Chong Wei’s achievement and patriotism, I feel if he had offered to donate, if not all, even a portion of the RM300,000 to some charity or scholarship fund, he would have raised his patriotism to a higher level.

TAM YONG YUEE, Muar

Source: NST – August 27, 2008