Skip to main content

Because I don't simply throw coins at a pauper

There was an article I read a few months ago with the title "Why is the child sleeping in the arms of a beggar." Although the source an authenticity of the writing is questionable, the points written worth a little attention and perhaps, more contemplation. I don't have kids myself, but I have lived with my nephews and nieces. Kids, being themselves, at such age, they don't sleep all day long. They run around and cry. Remember the last time you walked past a beggar with a child. What was the little child doing. Sleeping? And try to recall a couple of times before the last times you walk past them. Was the little creature sleeping too? Next time, you might want to try remembering the child's face, and see for yourself if the next time you walk past the same mother weather its the same child sleeping on her lap. It was mentioned in the article, from an investigation (insertyourskepticismhere) , the children were drugged to keep them asleep and in some cases, they died. So the child will be replaced with another one, kidnapped from some unlucky mothers who fed and clad them well and let them run around instead of sleeping all day long on the street.

Remember the last time you went to mamak with your buddies and they were a visually impared pakcik and a lady in baju kurung and tudung came around asking for some change? And next, you were having a lunch at a stall in the midst of KL rushing hour and the pakcik and the lady in baju kurung came for more donations and it seems to be a recurring coincidence that you wonder if they've been stalking you until it occured to you, its a different couple every time  And, one of these days when you find yourself having a little extra minutes to mind other people's business, ask the lady in baju kurung how is she related to the pakcik. I am quite positive the answer would be "I am the wife". So its a trend now to have a wife dragging their blind husband around town to make a living. Is this the image of a healthy society? Have it never crossed your mind that they might not be operating independently? With every dollar given, do you think you are really helping this blind pakcik or are you feeding some fat-ass mafia who is practically manipulating the less-fortunate ones to feed their greed. A modern form of human slavery, clad in the name of charity.

I like the idea of building more and more schools along with improving the quality of our teachers, as I always believe we need to have less children in a class so every child will get more attention from the  teacher. Thus, at  every opportunity, we should all take part in this, because improving the quality of education is working towards a better future for our children, my children. But, having a 12 years old boy walking around town or  knocking door to door asking for donation to build a new madrasah in a remote Kedah suburb, on a Wednesday morning when all the other children his age are in school is not what I had in mind. The organizer seems to be rich enough to bring the boys all the way to KL from Kedah, provide food and accommodation to do the collection albeit in dire need of money to build a new two storey blocks portrayed in a worn out pictured carried in the boy pockets with a title Sekolah Tahfiz written in Arabic calligraphy.  How can you build a  school at the expense of another child's education? Ain't that boy supposed to be in school. Why is he begging on the street at this hour? "So boy, you are from this so called need-expansion sekolah tahfiz, now recite to me surah Al-Baqarah verses 10-25. Or easy, how about one of the surah in the last juz'. An-Naba' perhaps?" ....and see, how he startles... 

Fellow Malaysians, are these the image of our dream society? Or am I the weird one who finds all the aforementioned scenarios are such a social nuisance. Do I hate paupers? No, I don't. Some of them are really poor and in dire need of help and life being life, has given them no other choice but to beg on the street. Nevertheless, I am skeptical about whose hands are actually receiving the money. Could it be that, instead of helping the needy ones, we are feeding the begging syndicates... and I strongly believe, this industry survived, because we Malaysians are too generous.....

...and maybe because the government is not trying hard enough....what do you readers think?


Can we expect changes after The General Election, regardless whoever wins.


Throw a vote for the right one. So latter you do not have to worry if you're throwing money at the deserving ones.... or not. Cheers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Transition

Sometimes I wonder if I would still blog after I go back for good since it always turns out that I don’t really blog whenever I return to Malaysia. I’m back in Melbourne again. Despite everything I said about this place. I'm always thankful that I’m studying here. 8 hours is long enough, can’t imagine going further. Let alone going back during a short winter break like I just did. Haha… However, regardless how good Melbourne is, coming back here is never easy. It is not the place, it’s the transition. Travelling is tiring. Yes, like yesterday, I had to take two flights, one from Penang to KL, then KL to Melb, it is a lot more tiring for someone like me who could barely sleep in a plane. That’s why I enjoy traveling during the day and taking a window seat. I enjoy day dreaming while staring at those fluffy white clouds. Haha.. Weather change changes everything. I had never went back during winter before. So that was my first time experiencing an abrupt change from a...

Against all odds...

I haven't written about school in here for moons... So, I have a couple of things to share... To begin with, I'm currently doing a design studio called Woven... The studio is basically about making beautiful building.. well, it does sound very general.. Every studio sort of has that intention... Anyway, but the different is, what is behind the design.. I mean, the driving idea... because it could be, the site, programs, occupants etc..etc... but for this studio.. It focuses more on the structure... How does the structure influence the design in making it a good and beautiful building... It's about the relationship between the structure and ornaments.... does structure itself serve as the decorative element of the building.. or is it traditional and the decorations stay independent from the structure... It is a decision to be made... Initially, I was really excited about the idea of making the structure ornamented and beautiful.. so instead of serving as structure, it could...

Creepy Me in my Poems

For the first time in my architecture-life, I'm bringing my poems into architecture. What's more interesting is, I use my poems in their original form, by this I mean, in Malay language. Now everybody in my class knows how Malay language sounds like. ahaha... The project is pretty much investigating the space between poems. The atmosphere of hearing two poems recited simultaneously. Sounds that make space, space that's defined by sound. Seriously, I don't really know how it'll work out... but hey, just having some experimentation with stuff a bit off-architecture... a break from my headache major project. Plus, I kinda enjoy making people listen to my poems without expecting them to understand a word... rather then, reciting to a bunch of people who understand but couldn't 'appreciate' them... and yeah, I receive some flattering comments from 'mat-salleh' course mate like... "when something is well written, even you can't understand it.....