RUMINATIONS: Poverty in a land of plenty

Desi's heart was filled with surprise on first reading, then rage, and then lingering sadness -- a six-year-old boy taking his own life after failing to get some money from his parents to buy school textbooks when enrolling into school. A child fresh as a blank slate, and the slate wiped out of breath and potentail awe and springtime of hope for one Young Malaysian. I can visualise those two eyes of innocence, the face of eagerness to start a whole new year -- all crashing to dust. And we are a land of plenty in terms of resources and material wealth, but where goeth the Caring Society?

The Government often cites figures to trumpet how it has successfully brought down the levels of poverty -- from hight double figures in prcentage to a low or even single digit (Sorry I'm recalling generally as I don't have the stats in hands ! Any informed ER can help update us? Bro johnleemk?)

But often we read of rural children walking long distances daily, some barefoot, to and from wooden huts in the Sabah and Sarawak boondocks -- also of less frequency Terengganu and Kelantan? -- to school. Risking life and limb trudging over slippery jungle paths and over half-intact bridges over swollen/swelling rivers or streams. I had written about this some seven years ago, and still such scenes are enacted in recent months, by mainstream papers, so in a way, I won't say the MSM are totally out-of-sync with community affairs. The omission or commission of biased reporting is more in political coverage, and we understand why, don't we? (And that's a rhetorical Q -- unless some smartalec readers wish to read my mind to expound his/her readings!)

Now back to poverty -- I am glad to report that some schools ahve responded well to the challenge of helping pupils from financially hardpressed homes. At least one school in Furong -- the Peyton Place I knoweth wella, so I can write about with confidence, I don't know about affluent Kuala Lumpur and Subang Jaya, though I visit frequently to earn some B&B -- has set up a FUND to extend aid, mosyly in the form as vouchers, to help with book purchase, fees and even meals (for ful-filling the tummy alone, up to RM60 a month) at the school canteen. SYABAS to this school for its initiative (Its ID has been partially revealed in an earlier Post on Teachers' Day, so do some archive search here if you're a curious Cat, just don't bark too much up the wrong Alley, or Tree, or at The Moon, though Moonlighting has been one of my romantic pastimes.:)

Now where was I? I'm often digressing butt that's a Blogger's privilege, sometimes testing my ER, I know, but I've learnt one must not be overly kind -- you know how the NEP's products have turned out sub-standard minds, don't you! Although this is posed question-like, it ends with an Xclamation mark, which means I don't wish to hear from you todie on th NEP. The subject at hand is Poverty amidst plenty. Okay, seeing that I know some of you -- some think NEP is remotely related, but I'm not letting you too much leeway.

I told you I was enraged reading a Young Life unneccessarily snuffed out by his own hands. So unthinkable in a land of plenty called NegaraKU when you read of multi-million weddings, second weddings; multi-million donations to neighbouring countries (Yes, one bigwig admitted proudly he was doing charity in Thailand, but you never heard him saying he had also done charity on the homefront. Or mayhaps he was publcity-shy -- Desi must extend him benefit of the doubt.)
Chairty begins at home, I have reminded my ER often enough. Handing that one or 10 ringgit to a gaunt-looking elderly beggar, or a handicapped person ekeing out a living selling simple everyday usable items is more meaningful that handing out a RM10,000 cheque to Tsunami victims in a faraway land to obtain that 15-minutes' media fame-lah, though some may beg to disagree. How often do we raed how such funds have gone missing after a few years they have been set up, you don't know? Okay, ignorance is bliss, gooder samaritans.

Maybe I shouldn't spoil your Sunday writing such tragic reminders of some pockets of Malaysians caught in dire straits resulting in death. Maybe I should LET IT BE and write if off as something beyond our control and out of our reach to assist. But the more such Maybes creep into my vocabulary, I would soon descend into paralysis.

I once wrote about how generally Malaysians have become IMMUNE to be surprised reading about RM200million being "wantonly" spent yearly on Monsoon Cup and RM600million spent to fulfill the millionaire aspirations of about 200 UMNO division chiefs like the way Maggi mee is instantly bought at the nearby keadi for RM4 per five packets.

Scandals of billion-ringgit league now qualify for some "surprise" among scandal-wearied Rakyat, staring from the days of the previous administration famous for mega-project failures -- remember Bank Bumiputra baillouts? Not once, not twice, THREE TIMES.
Remember Bakun Dam(n) bailout; remember the Banks' Bailouts? No, not much in poublic memory because many Malaysians have become immune to such "official corruption". And the recipients of such aid are still thriving -- maybe in a few years, there comes another round of bailouts?
I won't bet on it, but I am not surprised when the next round of financial downturn hits and several of our nation's corporate bigwigs and crony politicians -- even "small" businessmen like Datuk Z and funnymen in Port Klang -- are caught again with their sarong down. Naked in all their shining glory. Want to stay in "small" glass houses four-storey high in royal city of Klang. Kota Baru, Johor Baru or Furong next?

I now take my leave and see if the neighbourhood's children have come out to fly a kite or two. Even the rare one wanting how to play "Batu Seremban". But their war cries of Cowboy and Red Indians would be Besta, for that's Desi's idyllic times of wanton ways and sunshine dies.

PS: Worth some rumnination is a piece by FARSH NOOR, from which I reproduced only the closing paragraphs. Like all good stuff, please spend some time investing in reading from the horse' mouth.

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The Year Of Believing Dangerously

"Ultimately these thorny questions bring us back to the original question of who, and what, is a Malaysian? If ours is going to be a national politics predicated on the concept of universal citizenship where racial, ethnic and religious identities are secondary to our national identity, then the debates on freedom of religion have to be set in a Malaysian context that prioritises Malaysian civil law above all else.

This is the legal system that guarantees the right to anyone converting to Islam, and should likewise guarantee the right for someone to leave Islam: Not because Islam is secondary, but because a Malaysian should have the right to make Islam his or her religion and primary in his or her life. But this rule has to be a universal one that does not discriminate. It is this universal spirit and value that is being debated now, and for the future of a Malaysia that belongs to all Malaysians, we must defend this universalism in our private particular corners, each and every one of us. Believing should never be a dangerous matter."

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Dr Farish A. Noor is a Malaysian political scientist
and historian based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin;
and one of the founders of the www.othermalaysia.org research site.

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ERRATA ~~ "To err is human, To forgive divine."

UPDATEd @7.30PM:

APOLOGIES: to all my ER, in my haste, and also suffering fatigue, I made some factual errors in foregoing and I beg your pardon. ~~ DESI

After posting the earlier portion, I went back to my Newspapers to try to track down the "news" item; my recall was a slip.

Finally I caught the following from What A Lulu, and I note APpreciation to put the right report on record -- She quotes Mkini and I don't have a subscription.

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"Boy hangs himself over school fees"
Jan 5, 07 1:10pm
Twelve-year-old Daniel Boniface ended his life yesterday when he could not raise the money to pay his school fees.
His sister found the standard six pupil hanging in their house in Miri, Sarawak, at about 5.30pm.
He was then rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead.
The boy’s uncle, who declined to be identified, told Bernama that he saw Daniel last at about 3.45pm.
Prior to this, he said the boy, who is the youngest among five siblings, had asked his mother for money to pay his school fees.
His mother, who is separated from her husband and works as an office cleaner, told Daniel that she could not afford it.
According to the uncle, the boy then contacted his father who lives in Mukah. However, Daniel was scolded when he asked for the money.
The boy then turned to his grandmother for help. She too scolded him and told Daniel to quit school and look for a job since he could not afford to study.
A Miri police spokesperson confirmed receiving a report on the incident last night.
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