Malaysia, charity begins at home!

Both the two leading English dailies, the NST and THE STAR, today (19 March 2005) highlighted last night's glamour event, Force of Nature Concert for Tsunami Aid at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, which raised RM10million for last December's Tsunami victims. Both papers led off on Page 1 with 2 more pages full of colour pictures on pages 6 and 8 in the NST featuring international singer and actor celebrities while The Star ran the colour pictorial story on page 9.
The latter's report in the last para recorded that "Among dignitaries who attended the concert were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Information Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, education Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman and Force of Nature Foundation special ambassador Tan Sri Razali Ismail."

On page 2 of The Star, headlined Fishermen still can't work, is the report datelined PENANG leading off with "Nearly three months after the tsunami hit Malaysia and other countries in the region on Dec 26, more than 1,000 fishermen in the state are still not going out to sea. The reason is they cannot get the parts needed to repair their damaged boats and fishing equipment."

Deputy Chief Miister Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdullah said some of them had also been forced to order nets and other fishing gear from Thailand, and many others have to wait a few months for their new custom-made boats to be built.

The DCM said that the state government would soon give the affected fishermen RM800 per family from the TYT Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund, and that State Agriculture and Agro-based Committee chairman Datuk Azhar Ibrahim "is finalising the list of those who are eligible to receive the RM800 in aid. He added that in January the Federal Government had given out RM2,000 in aid to the fishermen with big boatsand RM1,000 to those with small boats.

I am concerned when reading about the plight of the Penang Tsunami victims -- the question arises why after almost three months the state authorities still have not finalised the list of eligible aid recipients!

We see concerted efforts by various delegations such as the UMNO Youth led by its deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin rushing off to Aceh, Sumatra , months ago with large financial aid and other food items. Do all those politicians and other groups do such charity acts when they know they would get their 15 minutes of media fame, or that they are accopmpanied by VVIPs, like a federal minister?

Can't these leaders ensure that bureaucratic red tape could be minimised so that the local fishermen could "speedily be aided" to get back on their feet again. All they are asking for is just to get back to work for a living -- and there is "dignity" in work, as a close friend of mine notes often, for few would want to fall back on charity once too often.

So Malaysia,

I do not begrudge the Ministers, government officials mixing with international celebrities at a star-studded event of the year to raise funds for Tsunami victims in the regional arena. But what about the Tsunami victims on the home front?

In April/ May 2003 at the height of the US-led war, my thoughts went back to the 1960s, when the Vietnam War took a heavy toll on both Americans and Vietnamese, and I penned the following poem:


Warfront Faraway

The United States and allies have been
Raining missiles on Iraq for eight days now
Targeting a tyrant called Saddam Hussein

Soldiers, civilians have fallen dead
Iraqi more than American or British
But the blood that oozed was commonly red

Peoples across the nations protest
They clamour for a ceasefire
They do not understand, they ask:
'Mr President Bush, Why war?"

I too do not understand
Why they see the warfront faraway
At home the destitute, the downtrodden,
Women and childrenare crying, dying
The citizens face daily war
Against hunger, discrimination, injustice

Who'd pause for these unprotesting victims?
Born of leaders who only see
The war on the far horizon



When the Vietnamese refugees came by the boatloads off Malaysian shores (mainly off Terengganu and Kelantan), to escape the war in their homeland, some reports, later denied, stated that the Malaysian authorities even wanted "to shoot" the refugees ... later, weakly amended to "shoo them away ..."! I emphasised here it's unlikely to be "shoo" as this word automatically has to be accompanied by the word "away", so it's just diplomatic doublespeak by the then Foreign Minister for an initial thoughtless remark made off the cuff!

It's hypocrisy of the highest order that human beings often ignored the sufferings of fellow humans in the neighbourhood, but wanted to practise "charity" on war victims like widows and orphans on the warfront faraway. Yes, there was an instance (yes, again in Penang) when a homeless woman had to depend on using a shop's facilities to have her daily baths, and shared in the food thrown her way by the shop's patrons, but when the Welfare Department knew of her case, the "generous" charity handed out was a monthly allowance of RM100 a month! But they threw away millions for a fund just for one war victim from far, far away because the latter case enjoyed much fanfare and received VIP treatment.

Oh Malaysia, let's remind ourselves once in a while, Charity Begins at Home. Quite often it is the 15 minutes of press publicity that provided the motivation for donors of charity. I don't doubt also they are genuine caring Malaysians who extend a helping hand, even anonymously -- to them, I say: May God's Blessing Be With You, Always.

It's all too easy to observe the war and strife in the Middle East, lamenting the daeth and carnage wrought on civilians and women and children, but don't forget also on the homefront, it's daily warfare too -- on the streets littered with drug addicts and sex workers, runaway children and homeless old folks. Let's remember the less fortunate Malaysians first and foremost when extending our hands of friendship and charity, then we turn our sights to the lands on the far horizon.