When I was young, I was taught that different faiths were different pathways to the same supreme Spirit, called God, for practical purposes. Thinking about it, and this is a layman’s view, not that of an expert on religion, God must seem different to people of different ethnicity, culture and social background. Continue reading “God is a Socialist”
Category: Reflections
From Conflict to Captivity
The plight of the Rohingya People is urgent! Persecution and statelessness are not the only oppression they face. As undocumented asylum seekers and refugees fleeing virtual ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State,which they call ‘Arakan State,’ in Myanmar, they face intense suffering in places where they hope to find safety and to live peacefully in freedom. Continue reading “From Conflict to Captivity”
Kindness or Cruelty?
I felt I had to share this with the world. Coca-cola thought that it was doing migrant workers in Singapore a favour by sponsoring a public gesture of appreciation for their hard work in building Singapore. Whether this could be seen as Corporate Social Responsibility or a mere advertising gimmick, is up to the viewer. In contrast, a Singapore journalist with Al-Jazeera documented the real living and working conditions of migrant construction workers in Singapore. Use this link to decide for yourself, if Coca-cola is being kind or cruel to the usually anonymous foreign worker.
It brought tears to my eyes.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/05/foreign-workers-are-not-your-props-coca-cola/
Green Guardians- Greening Up
Well, what happened to my green guardians? The rains started to trickle down in mid March, and I felt completely justified in putting the survival of the green guardians in Mom’s garden at the top of the list in this small experimental effort to save fast evaporating water. Continue reading “Green Guardians- Greening Up”
X-Men and LGBT
This post might seem controversial to some readers, but I would prefer to look at the topic of sexual orientation and gender/ trans-gender issues with an objectivity devoid of so-called moral or religious judgment. After all, being outside the LGBT community, doesn’t give me any right or qualification to judge anyone who knows what life of persons of the ‘third gender’ is like. Continue reading “X-Men and LGBT”
21st Century Woman
Do you like being called a ‘female’ instead of a ‘woman’ or a ‘lady’? I definitely object to the term ‘female’ as a substitute for ‘woman’ as these are not interchangeable in civilized speak. From reading English historical novels, the word ‘female’ often implies an insult. Used in certain contexts, it implies someone of low-status or caste, less than human, more like an animal. Yet, in speaking about women in general and their involvement in daily events that attract coverage by mainstream Malaysian media, the term ‘female’ is often used to describe their gender. It is even used interchangeably with words like, ‘lady/ladies’ and ‘woman/women’. In contrast ‘male’ isn’t as often used for men. Continue reading “21st Century Woman”
Boy with Bottle Shoes
Charles Dickens was a socially aware writer who knew very well, the world of the poor. In Britain’s 19th century Industrial Revolution, society was engrossed in the wonders of technology and the wealth it could generate with little concern of the consequences of these great inventions or the impact they had on those who worked to keep the technology in motion to generate increasing wealth for the owners of the machinery. In Dickens’ day, the work house, child labor, merciless exploitation of workers, debt imprisonment, slum dwelling and the under-world of cut-throats, pick-pockets, thieves and beggars were the lot of the poor. Continue reading “Boy with Bottle Shoes”
Is a System Right or Wrong?
Someone said, ” The hospital will ask about a person’s age, when you call emergency services to send an ambulance. If the person is quite old (possibly between 80 and 90 years old) it seems that this emergency won’t be treated as an emergency.” It is easy to think that this sounds reasonable, as an aged person is naturally at Death’s door and should be allowed to go as quickly as possible. What bothers me is, whether de-prioritizing emergencies involving persons of advanced age is playing God? Who has the right to decide when you can die, even if you were 100 years or more? Continue reading “Is a System Right or Wrong?”
Sham Christmas Goodwill
After the late night movie “Babel” on Malaysia’s NTV7 which ended around 2am, I accidentally flicked to TV3. It’s amazing how inverted priorities are in this country. It was quarter way into a children’s animation of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. At 2.30 in the morning? Which child would be awake at this hour, except for those like me. Continue reading “Sham Christmas Goodwill”
Yuletide Coming In
It’s like standing on a windy beach watching the tide come in. At last I went away again on a long break in October, to the fair merry city of Dublin in Eire (Ireland). I always find myself standing on a seafront or beach looking in wonder at the vast expanse of blue-grey or turquoise ocean. It is easy to lose myself in revelry and nostalgia of other similar occasions on wind-swept beaches in other places washed by the same salty waves which lap or crash on shores of colored pebbles, black, white or red sand, plain granite boulders or rocks painted black by the tide. A year is like the sea. Continue reading “Yuletide Coming In”
Winking at Life 