It is absurd and shocking that in this land of plenty, the Hot Meal Programme for all primary schools nation-wide should come to a sudden stop.

It is understood that about 600,000 primary school pupils coming from poor families will be deprived of their daily 80-sen worth of meals because funds have run out.

Compare this meagre meal to the feast for some 1,000 delegates attending the 27^th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers that is costing RM200,000 daily. This sum could have provided one day's meals for 250,000 hungry pupils.

Thinking Malaysians would want to know why "the allocation from the Ministry has been exhausted." They would want to know why this Hot Meal fund was not replenished. Who was responsible for this terrible tragedy, which will leave 600,000 pupils hungry daily?

We never seem to be short of cash for mega projects such as the Twin Towers, the KLIA, and Putrajaya. But when it comes to feeding the poor, housing the homeless, providing much-needed healthcare for the needy, we surprisingly seem to run short of cash.

In spite of our wealth and growth, we are not sensitive to things that matter most to ordinary people. We are not a compassionate community that will seriously address the welfare issues of the common man and woman unless there is a by-election pending.

We ought to hang our heads in shame and stop calling ourselves a caring society.