Humanity? Now a mere Myth !

 . . . this is my third week of being a vegetarian, family is not really supporting my decision but still so far I'm still surviving. . .


Today 27.6.2012 after class at about 6pm I went to a nearby vegetarian shop to have my lunch + dinner. I had been going to this particular vegetarian shop for about 3 years, so the owner knows me quite well. Lately, me being a vegan - I'm now his regular customer. The food is served buffet style where one of the staff would assist you, typical "nasi ekonomi" style. I took my food, paid for it, chose the corner of the shop so that I could observe those who walk in and out of the shop. 


Later came, a Chinese clean, decent oldman probably in his 60's. Looking at this old man the restaurant staff hesitated to serve him. Then came the restaurant's owner, he asked the old man if he has any money! (harsh tone in Hokkien) The old man replied that he would pay "later". By the way of their interaction and with my little Hokkien knowledge I concluded that this old man does some odd job and has no money with him due to the heavy rain today in Penang. 
The old man added, its food -basic need and he'll pay later la, he has no money la, hungry la and stuff. While the taukeh kept shooing off saying; in this world everything needs money, he is not doing charity either. The other customers in the shop never showed any interest in the "drama". 
Me, sitting there looking at this "drama" lost my appetite. 
I felt guilty sitting there, I'm thought of paying but then my mind quicly browsed through all the "awkward" possibilities : 
1. What if the old man rejects? He might have his own guts and me being a "kiddo" offering to pay might affect that.
2. What would the shop owner think of me? He might be thinking why is this guy trying to be a "hero". I don't know who the old man after all. He might also think I'm trying to act smart!
3. Why should I poke my nose in others biz? 
4. The proverb  “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime" came into my mind

5. What if the old man takes food for, just say RM50. That is like a buta.com for me.

...but at the end I recalled an Indian proverb my father used to tell me, which literally means; If one man claims that he has no food no consume, shall I destroy the entire humankind. 

 ( I know the proverb is a little far-fetched but then those are words to that effect) 


So I walked toward the old man gave him RM10 asked him to buy food and walked away from the shop.
p/s : yea, I just gave RM10 because I'm not Bill Gates son!


________________________________________________________________________________


Okey, so what is wrong with the society today? Have we lost our humanity going after all this material wealth? Has today's world people became so self centered and selfish?! The above is just one scenario. I bet there are many more similar or even sadder examples out there but then what has got into our souls and minds? The number of zero's in our bank balance? At the end on the day, money can only give you comfort but not happiness. 
Yeah, the man was physically "perfect", good eye-sight, had both hands and legs but remember not all are as fortunate as others. We could easily spend RM10 on movies, hundreds on entertainment, clubbing, fancy food and clothing,  spend so much on temple donations/religious matter but when it comes to giving to others we tend to think of bankruptcy! We tend to think who are they to us, not my relatives nor friends! We look for an added "material" value in everything and not human value!! 

Funny but this is the sad TRUTH !

Take the shop owner for an instance, just assume that an average meal would cost RM5 and in day he has 150 customers. He makes a RM750 and assuming his cost is RM350, he still makes a solid RM400 per day! yet he could scold and shoo away a helpless hungry man. 

He might have had his reasons but the core issue is humanity is dying ! We tend to give a million reason even to feed a hungry man.  


~ Those who have, don't wish to give & those who wish to give, don't have.

# We live in a society where they would feed dogs but not a hungry stranger/beggar. 

#We live in a society that would not feed/help the needy but instead tell their children that " if you don't study hard today, you'll end up being him"

Actually there is still lot more to write on the erosion of humanity among the society now but I'm not in the mood and I'm a little tired so I'd like to end this here. I have laid out an example, which I think is sufficient.

Good night. Take care. 






" Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. "  - Dalai Lama

Rally / Demonstration Here and There ! Why ?!

Its sad how every time you open a newspaper or turn on the television or radio these days, you invariably come across news on demonstrations and sometimes violent protests somewhere. I can bet on that !

Recently, demonstrations have broken out in Moscow, Manchester, Manila, Jakarta, London,  Dakar, Montreal, Yangon, Chicago, Jerusalem, Madrid, Frankfurt, Athens, New Delhi,  Mexico City, Santiago, Kuala Lumpur, and outside the residence of Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, to name just a few. 

As I ponder, the question that comes to mind is why are so many people worldwide so raged these days?

To be sure, the reasons that drive people to the streets differ from place to place but there might well be a sense of common frustration behind much of the anger – the bewildering pace of change, the confusing complexity of life and the sense of their own helplessness. It’s a sort of system failure on a GRAND scale.

In an age of political liberation. The people are told that their votes count, that they get to choose who rules them and how. They cast their ballots but does it really make a difference?

Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal, or whatever else politicians call themselves, in the end they all come out smelling the same.

They make promises they cannot keep, they say one thing and do something else, they have more ideology than common sense, they brag about their economic heroism but makes a mess of the economy and abuse their power because they know they can always get away from it. 

  

The economy is struggling, even the America's. World leaders gather for great summits and conferences ,they spend billions of dollars on it but they don’t have any real answers. One day they tout the wisdom of austerity ( deficit-cut by lowering expenditure), the next they brag about stimulus packages. 

They spend lavishly and then demand that the people tighten their belts. In the meantime, jobs opportunity diminish , taxes are going up, standards of living are falling and future prospects are dimming.

If leaders and economists are having such a hard time managing the economy, think how difficult and helpless ordinary/lay people must feel.

Can it be that the global financial system has become so complex that we no longer know how to manage it anymore? Can it be that the system has become so corrupt and open to manipulation that ordinary people no longer stand a fair chance of prospering from it?

Across the world, the rich are getting richer and the rest are getting poorer !

And what does it say of a system that rewards the CEO of a failing company more than RM96mil a year? Can any man’s labour be worth RM96mil a year when a huge chunk of the world has to get by on a few dollars a day?

Whatever our citizenship/religious view , we were all brought up to believe that if we worked hard, saved and go by the rules, we could someday look forward to a better life, that our children would go further than us. People in many countries, including industrialised ones, are now discovering that such dreams can quickly turn into nightmares.

Clearly, it is not as much about hard work, thrift and careful personal economy but about power, influence and connections; the ultimate ugly truth! We are all just serfs now in a globalization manipulated by ruling elites.

The system stink and the serfs are rising up and it’s not just politics or economics; the uncertainty touches almost everything these days.

Eggs are good for you one day and bad for you the next ! Latest reports indicate that researchers are now confused by data suggesting that exercise might be bad for you. (Got it from : http://www.omg-facts.com/ )

If they, themselves are confused and what about us? Who and what are we to believe? How do you make decisions when the science keeps changing all the time? Have we become too smart for our own good?

 When man concludes that he’s up against forces beyond his control, when he knows his voice doesn’t count anymore, when he sees his hopes and dreams recede, the streets become his parliament and his shouts become his vote !

In different forms and shades, expect to see more and more people all over the world taking it to the streets to shout and scream their rage ! - mark my words-  It may be all that’s left to them. 


All for a better future ahead, for us and our generations to come.

Section 114A of the Evidence Act, Doom For Every Internet User!

If you are here, you are definitely an Internet user too. You are being affected by this new law passed by the government w/out you even knowing about it.  

Being an internet user, I suppose you would have an e-mail and at least an account in any social sites available to us today such as;  Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Friendster, Hi5, Tagged, Google+, to name just a few. 
Having said all this you would also for sure have came across impersonation/fake profiles, hacking and such.

Being a freelance writer, I have came across articles purportedly written by me being circulated widely on the "world wide web". I would usually just ignore those articles as, it is impossible for me to remove/delete the article and police reports would just be an extra headache for me. So over the years I have developed a certain style in my writings. Those who have been following my articles would recognise my style and I leave it for readers to judge.

 With the new amendment to the Evidence Act 1950 which just came into force I cannot rely solely on the goodwill of my readers anymore. It won’t matter if my so called “article” was full of mistakes which I wouldn't normally make. I would be opined as the author of it in the eye of law until I can prove otherwise.

The newly inserted Section 114A of the Evidence Act provides for the following:

[ http://www.parlimen.gov.my/files/billindex/pdf/2012/DR162012E.pdf ]

# Owners, hosts, administrators, editors or sub-editors of websites or social media accounts are deemed responsible for any content that has been published or re-published on their site whether by themselves, persons impersonating them or any other persons;

# Subscribers of a network service which was used to publish or re-publish any content are deemed responsible for the publication; and

# Owners or individuals in custody of an electronic device that was used to publish or re-publish any content are deemed responsible for the publication.

Basically, this means that until you can prove you are innocent of these charges, you are considered by the law as guilty.

This is a complete reversal of the usual “innocent until proven guilty” axiom in most courts of law.

Now this caused a chill in my spine! Over the years, not only have I been impersonated in articles and comments but also in real life.

Now all of these people will be encouraged to do more because of this law. They will know that I will have to spend so much time, energy and expense to fight to prove my innocence in the courts that they will get away easily. 

Furthermore, while I’m trying to prove that I didn’t write these articles, they can continue to keep writing them with impunity.

Who does this law is meant to protect? Is this a good law? The credibility of those who made and passed this law/parliament should be questioned !

More importantly, it is a huge threat to the freedom of speech as stated in our Federal Constitution.The Government is hoping that this new law will curb postings by anonymous bloggers and commentators whom are critical of the Government. At the same time, this law is more far-reaching because it makes owners of blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts responsible for anything that appears on them.

 --> If someone posts an anonymous comment on my blog or Facebook page that somebody else does not like, then I’m instantly responsible for it even if I don’t know who the poster is in real life.

It makes me to wonder how laws are made in this country! 

This is the result of not giving the law enough scrutiny and debate in Parliament, rushing to create law to safeguard themselves and not considering the effect of it on others. Doesn't this also make you worry about the other laws passed in such a hurry as well? What traps lurk within them that we don’t know about, and which we could unknowingly get caught in?

If I were to do something wrong, the government could interfere, but when the government does something bad or wrong and when the public criticise about it using the freedom to speech given to them by the constitution, after all laws made should be intended for the well being of the citizens and country but here public/citizen may end up in the court or even behind the bars! Pretty much what I think is the main purpose of  Section 114A of the Evidence Act.

p/s: Do you know how laws in Malaysia are made? Follow this link ( a brief explanation) : http://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Malaysian_Legal_System_and_Constitution/Legal_System_and_Theory/1000.htm