Kupu-kupu malam

Everyone has his/her story and reasons to do or not to do something. Having dreams and desires is a right, not privilege. Approval and judgment from others are not required.

This short story is for the working girls in Jakarta and around the world. I may not agree with what you’re doing, I respect your rights.

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Traffic in Jakarta city is moving slowly on Friday night. Most of the left lane is occupied by street hawkers and small buses. It is the familiar scene to Ade who is staring blankly out from the Bluebird taxi. Her mind is somewhere else, in a place where she lies on green field surrounded by white, snow capped mountains. A place where the clear blue sky is decorated with pure white clouds.

She was born in a small town on the Island of Sulawesi and moved to the capital with a dream. In the first 2 years, she worked hard at a hair salon and tried hard to save as much money as she could. Then, a friend made her realize that in order to have more money, she had to make more and not just by saving them.

Her friends initiated her into a world unknown to a timid country girl, a world where she could receive 2 weeks’ worth of her salary at the salon in a few hours, a world where she didn’t need qualifications to compete, and a world where she just needed to smile and get really close with strangers.

In a few months time, she had learnt to speak comparatively good English and started to frequent some of the pubs and lounges at 5-star hotels where she could meet foreigners with fat wallet. Life was easy. She quit her day job at the hair salon, moved to a better kos (hostel) and still had enough money to buy new clothes and shoes.

"I don’t entertain everyone but the ones who I like." She always told herself this, as if to convince and justify her own action. Behind her back, people called her “kupu-kupu malam” (night butterfly). In a city where everyone was struggling to make do amid the ever increasing standard of living, having money was all that counted. She was convinced.

Ade’s world changed after she met Patrick at the CJs pub in Mulia Hotel. He was young, good looking and well mannered. Unlike the other bule (white skinned foreigners), he showed respect for her and didn’t feel her up in public. They were sitting at the noisy pub and were talking for almost 2 hours before going back to his apartment.

He called her the next day and soon she was living with him for the next few weeks. That was the happiest time in Ade’s 25 years of live. She would wait for him to come back from work and went out for dinner together. He told her stories of his trips to many parts of the world, places where she hadn’t heard of. He gave her a poster of splendid snow capped mountains under clear blue sky, which Ade found so beautiful and peaceful.

"Himalaya mountains. They’re the tallest mountains in the world" Patrick told her.

She kept it and wished she could visit the place one day.

One day, Patrick came home and told her he was going back to Australia the next day. Ade cried and he promised to come back for her in a few weeks time. They made passionate love whole night as if it was the last.

Just like that, Patrick disappeared from her life and she never heard from him since. She was sad for a few weeks and when her money ran out, she went back to her former life.

“You just need to switch back, just like flicking a light switch. Life goes on, honey” Her good friend Tias used to advise her.

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Ade gets off the taxi at the Le Meridian Hotel and heads directly to the famous “Tiga Puluh Pub”. Some of her friends have arrived earlier and are mingling in the Friday night crowd.

She scans the floor and makes a mental note on the potential clients. As usual, she filters those she doesn’t like at first sight. After that, she smiles and walks straight to the bar where she knows most of the clients will go to get their drinks. By experience, she understands this is a game of waiting and a balance of supply and demand.

She orders an orange juice and kept her distance from those girls dressed up in tight tops and short skirts. In contrary, she dresses up discreetly in white t-shirt and tight jeans, which make she stand out amid the other overly exposed girls.

A middle age white man of average build smiles at her and she smiles back. He walks over and says “Hello, what’s your name?” she smiles again and says “I m Linda, where are you from?”

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Ade gets up from her bed and sits down at the small table. She pushes away the kettle and some old magazines to make room for her daily letter writing.

“Dear Patick,

It rained heavily last night and Jakarta traffic was very bad as on every raining Friday night. I had a wonderful dream. We were drinking tea in a small hotel built in the middle of a green field. The white mountains were very close and we could see them from the hotel. The hotel owner was singing while he was making pan cakes for us. Everyone in the hotel was smiling and happy. The air was cool and fresh, just the same like it was at the Puncak tea plantation we visited together.

Sometimes, I wished we had made more outings together when you were in Jakarta. But that’s OK, I know you will remember me and come back to take me to visit your home in Australia. I long to see the green grass and white sheep you had told me so many times.

Love

Ade.”

She folds the letter carefully, puts it inside a light blue envelope and writes the date on it before sealing it. Slowly, with deliberate movements, she unlocks a small metal box and puts the letter on top of a pile that sits in the box. A poster of white snow capped mountains in wooden frame hangs above her bed.

After her shower, Ade sits down to make up and gets ready for her Saturday night.

On the streets, peddlers knock on car windows trying to sell bottled water and cigarettes. Beyond their blank and tired faces, they are probably thinking about dinner and school fees for their children.

In Jakarta, life goes on.

Farewell

Farewell…

To one of the few true honest men I have known.

To a man who had lived his whole life through honest means.

To a truly non violent man who had no enemies.

To a man who had nothing his whole life except his intelligence.

To a man who faced rough times with soft smiles.

To a man who always had a kind and friendly face.

To a man who had never asked for anything from anything

To a man who had given so much to others

To a man who had endured pain without complaints.

Thanks for the Santa Claus doll you gave me 35 years ago.

Farewell uncle, a truly honest man.

May peace be upon you.

On Abandoned babies

Recently, there have some hu-ha on abandoned babies found in rubbish dumps or places where you wouldn’t expect to find a baby.

On this subject, there are 3 main opinions which I summarized:
1. Abandoned babies happened due to declining moral value in the society.
2. This decline in moral is most likely because of the lack of good religious knowledge.
3. Harsh punishments are required to deter this from recurring.
4. We must educate our youngsters with the right values to prevent this.

I have to say I agree 101% with all these opinions.

1. Yes. It is really immoral specifically of the parents, generally of the good society to reject a pregnant teenager and her unborn baby. What has this world become of? As far as I know, our good Iban society in Sarawak hasn’t faced abandoned babies problem for centuries. Why? They accept the mother and baby without a frown. The same goes to the good Eskimo people and some African tribes who we usually labeled as “less civilized”. Well, who is more civilized in terms of compassion?

2. Yes. The bad influence must have stemmed from lack of good religious values. The Holy Scriptures promote unconditional love and asks us to have compassion for all human being and even animals. “Love your enemies”. Every week, these same people bow and pray to the Mighty Creator and vow to uphold HIS teaching. Yet, they rejected their own teenage daughter and abandoned them at times when they needed their parents most.

3. Yes. Harsh punishments are required to cap all this immoral activities. Find those fuckers (literally speaking) and punish them for impregnating underage girls. Did I hear you said “CASTRATION”?

4. Yes. Give them good sex education. Let them know how a baby is made. More importantly, teach them how not to make a baby. Equip them with the necessary knowledge to face the real and cruel world out there, especially those who cloaked under a robe and carry a holy book wherever they go.

Now consider this case: she was probably 15 years old and was engaged to a nice young man. Before they got married, she was found pregnant and the father of the child was not known.

What should us the moral defender do to her to show it as an example to the rest of the teenage girls?

Her fiancé would have abandoned her as well as her parents, and the baby would most likely be found in a rubbish dump. She would be charged for immoral activity and baby dumping. The baby would probably not survive.

There's a tiny problem here: Her name was Mary and she named her baby Jesus.

Now, do you see my point, dear Moral Upholders?

DID U HEAR OUR CRIES?

when I was still very young, i was separated from my mother.
They wrapped a rubber band around my testicles for them to drop.
my meat would be tenderer, they said.
It hurt so much.
Did u hear my cries?

When I grow older, they sent me to a feedlot.
The place was so small I touched my neighbors whenever i turned.
Not a shred of green grass but starchy grain mix.
My meat would have more fat and taste better, they said.
It hurt my stomach.
Did u hear my cries?

When the time came, my food and water were cut off.
They loaded me onto a truck and drove to my destiny.
I would suffer less with empty stomach, they said.
It hurt, my friend.
Did u hear my cries?

When I was inside, I could feel fear and pain all around me.
They came with a bolt gun and shot me between the eyes.
I would feel no pain when my throat was cut, they said.
It hurt, it hurt so much.
Did you hear my cries?

CAN YOU HEAR OUR CRIES?

Danum Valley Conservation Area

I learnt about Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA) 2 years ago and finally had the opportunity to visit this amazing primary tropical rain forest in July this year.

Brief History

DVCA is among the few unlogged primary forests left in Malaysia. Some of the other famous forest conservations include Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA, Sabah), Taman Negara (Pahang) and Belum National Park (Perak).
DVCA is about 438 square km in area and it is surrounded by a huge logging concession area (10,000 square km or more than 20 times DVCA) awarded to Yayasan Sabah.

The first documented exploration into Danum Valley was in 1887 by a team lead by R.D. Beeston in search for gold.

DVCA was officially opened in 1986 by the then Chief Minister of Sabah, Joseph Pairin. It was further upgraded to Class I Protected Forest Reserve, which means no logging license can be legally issued to log this area.

Currently, the main sponsors of DVCA are Yayasan Sabah and the U.K Royal Society; and it’s managed by a committee consists of Government officers and universities.

The location of DVCA within the Yayasan Sabah logging concession area is shown in the picture in the left. Imagine the irreplaceable old growth forest that had been logged, being logged and to be logged from this vast concession area.

Getting there
The only way to get to DVCA is to go through Lahad Dato (Sabah). There is a transport service between the office in Lahad Dato and the field center in DVCA every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The transport departs from DVCA around 10:00am and leaves the office (Lahad Dato) around 3:00pm. The journey takes about 2 hours of bumpy ride on mainly trail road cleared for logging activities. Should we thank the logging companies for building the road?

Facilities
There are only two places where visitors can stay in Danum Valley. For budget travelers (myself included), the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) provides excellent accommodation at very reasonable and affordable rates.

Danum Valley Rainforest Lodge is for those looking for luxurious accommodation and 5-star services. Since luxury wasn’t on my itinerary, I went to DVFC and left some room for those who wanted the experience of having their nails polished deep inside a tropical rain forest.

At DVFC there are 2 huge dormitories, male and female, for budget travelers and unsponsored researchers. The male dormitory can easily house more than 80 people. However, the bathroom is rather small and do expect a long queue if the dorm is fully occupied.

There are also a few private rooms for sponsored researchers and travelers who are willing to pay a bit more for privacy and the comfort of AC and individual bathroom.

3 meals and afternoon tea are included and is served at the canteen, which is located about 1 km away from the dorms. There is also a mini market that sells essential items such as batteries, leech socks, biscuits, soft drinks etc. The lab and computer center are off limits to the visitors. The research assistants and staff live in the linked houses provided to them.

A small but complete weather station was commissioned a few years ago and it is recording valuable daily weather data for research purposes.

Attractions
The whole of DVFC is surrounded by thick vegetation that is mainly made up of Dipterocarp forest. “Dipterocarp” literally means “2-winged fruits”.

For most visitors, the main attraction is wildlife watching and there are plenty of them in DVCA. Wild orangutans are frequent visitors to the field centre during fruiting season in the surrounding forest. I was fortunate enough to see three of them feeding in the trees just behind the canteen. They stayed there for a few days.

Wild orangutan seen in the field centre

Occasionally, gibbons (Siamang in local language) can be seen swinging gracefully in the trees around the field centre. Their loud vocalization can be heard early in the morning.

Wild gibbon seen in the forest

If you visit DVCA at the right time of the year, you may be lucky enough to see families of pigmy elephants. According to the research assistants at the field centre, the elephants move between the forests in Sabah in fixed time cycles. Unfortunately, many of the forests in their path have been cleared and turned into oil palm plantations where unwanted conflicts occur. There are many theories with regards to their origin. The widely acceptable one is their ancestors were the now extinct Java elephants imported by the then Sulu Sultan a few hundred years ago. However, recent DNA studies reviewed they are an entirely new sub-species. We shall leave this to the experts. I was lucky enough to find - their dried dung pads in the forest.

Dried dung pad left by pigmy elephants

Besides orangutans and gibbons, a bearded wild pig and a group of deer are the “residents” of the field centre. The pig was seen in the day searching for food in the compound of the field centre while the deer came out at night.

The “resident” bearded wild pig

The elusive and rare Sumatera rhino is believed to still roam the forest within DVCA, but nobody has even seen one except for their dried dung since many years ago.
The other less elusive wildlife is the Red Leaf Monkeys, civet cats (musang in local language), bats and many hornbills and birds. The Nocturnal Tarsier is another elusive primate that only an experienced ranger can find in the dark.

No visitors can escape the intimate yet “bloody” encounters with the leeches in DVCA. They move swiftly and latch on any warm body effortlessly. I learnt through hard experience that once they latched on, don’t pull or burn them off unless you want a bleeding wound that attracts more of them. The wound will also remain itchy for months. The best way is to use some salt on them to make them release willingly, or just let them be if you are a generous blood donor.

Bloody blood sucker

There are a few beautiful water falls in DVCA and accessible from the field centre if you are prepared to walk for a few hours. The furthest one is Purut falls which takes about 8 hours for a return trip. Tembaling falls requires about half the time and the track is relatively easier. In fact, the field centre gets its water supply from here.

sign board showing the trails

After a tiring walk through the humid jungle, a dip in the fresh, cold water refreshes better than a pint of icy cold beer. Besides, beer doesn’t wash away the sweat and the smell.

A few short trails are also available around the field centre for the less adventurous visitors. There are also a few observation towers along these short trails which serve as an excellent bird watching platforms. Even you are not into feathered creatures, spending half an afternoon alone up on one of these platforms in the quiet jungle calms down messy minds embattled by office politics or nagging spouse.

A night drive on a 4WD on the bumpy road is the closest thing to night safari in a tropical rain forest and the quickest way to spot some nocturnal creatures. However, don’t go on a night when storm or rain is expected. That was another hard lesson for me. Not a single animal was spotted for 2 hours no matter how hard our experienced ranger was trying with his powerful flash light. I guess the animals could smell the looming storm and were all in hiding that night, in which more than 30mm of down pour was recorded.

Another not to be missed sight is the sun rise on an observation tower located on a small hill about 1 hour drive from the field centre. Under the early morning light, the forest submerged in mist seems mystical and yet heavenly peaceful and calm. It’s better than the best scenes in “Lord of the rings”. You just have to see and experience it.

Sun rise in Danum

Jungle in the mist

During my 5 days stay at the field centre, I slept soundly every night, something I rarely enjoy at home in PJ where the traffic never stops.
Danum Valley is indeed a well managed forest reserve and makes a great show case for rain forest conservation. As long as we have those people in power who thinks that trees are more valuable dead than alive, the destruction of our priceless natural heritage is unavoidable. The current efforts in conservation are, at best, delaying it to happen. And that, my fellow earthlings, is a very sad reality to learn.

In Search for Shangrila

According to the legend, Shangrila is a hidden paradise on earth where her people are free from aging, sickness and suffering.

Coincidently, there are similar versions of Shangrila in many different civilizations. For example, the Tibetans call it “Shamala”, the Chinese had story about 桃花源, it’s Eden for the Middle Eastern folks. Peter Pan’s Neverland is another good example of how human long for a peaceful, suffering free and ever lasting place to live at.

There have been a lot of writings and even researches on Shangrila. Most of them focused on the possible locations of this mystical, even magical paradise on earth.

In summary, Shangrila must be located at a place where the geology, hydrology and climate are at their optimal balance. The soil, nourished by flowing clean rivers, is fertile and well structured. The climate is moderate for agriculture and yet cools enough to suppress most harmful pathogen activities. This will guarantee sufficient supply of good quality food all year round and very few diseases.

However, there is a more important factor than the physical aspects of the place – the social-cultural aspect of her population. Dump a bunch of fascist bigots there and Shangrila no more.

In my humble opinion, there are several essential social-cultural aspects that people in Shangrila believe and most importantly practice to make her Shangrila and not Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

The first and foremost important is – NO organized religions exist in Shangrila. There were more human lives lost in holy wars and other religious conflicts than all the other wars combined. Besides, millions were tortured, agonized and discriminated by the same great organized religions that preached universal love and eternal compassion. In addition, organized religions bring with them their holy men, messengers, preachers and whatnot. They do best at regulating everyone’s daily life and limiting creativities with big jargons like “eternal Hell fire”, “Divine Punishment”, “Holy retribution” by the All loving, all forgiving Holy Creator.
So, organized religions are definitely a no-no if Shangrila is to stay as Shangrila.

Contrary to what most people may want to argue, spirituality would actually flourish in absence of organized religions which makes monoculture mandatory. It becomes a boundless personal pursuance without the fear of witch hunting.

The second is real, practiced equality in her society. This means full sexual equality that frees half of the population from all forms discriminations and restrictions. The women are empowered to contribute as much as the men. This also means all forms of slavery and bondages don’t exist in Shangrila.

Shangrila’s people must also have advancements in science and at the same time appreciation for art, literatures and music. One of the most important benefits from science is birth control, which effectively frees the female population from the burden of repeated cycles of pregnancy, nursing and bringing up children. This enables them to have time for other activities and enjoy life on different levels. Before you jump up and invoke divine curse on me, I have to elaborate more on this. By no means, I m not implying that reproduction and caring for next generation is a bad thing. Without birth control and real sexual equality, female population would be reduced to organic baby producing devices.

Take a tour to the slums in Mumbai or Dhaka and look at the skinny, exhausted and broken young women who have a dozen or more children. Birth control and sexual equality are both prohibited, well, by the all encompassing, universal organized religions which they’re born into.

Medical treatments, transportation are some of the other benefits of scientific advancement, just to name a few.

There must be distinctive differences in Shangrila’s culture compared to what we have today. Difference and uniqueness are respected and accepted rather than “tolerated”. Social justice must be an essence in their society. The most important factors to incubate these unique cultural features is abundant food and water supplies as well as absence of life threatening elements such as invaders, catastrophic disasters and fatal pandemic; or annoying people such as preachers of universal love who call you brother/sister only after you join them.

What about those wonderful human natural instincts such as violence, greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy etc, you may wonder. We can see the full manifestations of these amazing values in our past and present great achievers the likes of Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Osama, Mugabe etc.
I would like to propose that in a small and close society where everyone is treated equally and with abundant of food and safe shelter, these human natures don’t manifest into physical behaviors that affect the others, or at least the impacts are minimal.
For example, you may like the new boat that your neighbour just built. In the small neighborhood where everyone knows everybody, you can’t steal it and claim it yours. Since you have a small family and food is abundant, you have all the time in this world to build yourself a better boat.

If after you have read this and say to yourself, “this ain’t too hard.” You may already have a plan to get a few close friends, buy a piece of land remote from the corrupted world and start your own Shangrila under your lead.
That may not be a bad idea. Many had tried it before with mixed results. We call them collectively as CULTS.

Happily ever after

This is based on a real story. Well, as usual, only the fictional parts are fictional. Don’t we all get confused sometimes. :-)

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It was a warm and lazy Sunday afternoon. The tropical sun was mercilessly scorching the workers who were laying the asphalt on the road. Inside Angie’s room, the air conditioner was at full blast. Her two good friends were there too, and they were chatting excitedly.

“I m so happy for you, Angie. Finally, the biggest day of your life has come. Have you decided which studio to take the photos?” Lin asked.
"No. Not yet. Ming has been busy lately with his project. It’s closing phase now.” Angie answered.
“That can’t be more important than your wedding, can it?” Michelle joined in.
“He’s under immense pressure from his manager and I don’t want to trouble him now.”

“What about the wedding reception? Have you completed the guest list?”
“I’m working on that now. Ming wants to make it simple and spend less on the wedding dinner. We want to save some money for our honey moon.” Angie said.
“What excuse is that? This is the least a man can do for to make his wife and family proud.” Lin said.
“Yeah. There are a lot of things you need to do, Angie. For example, choose the color of the ribbons, your new bed sheet, curtains, find the shoes that match your wedding gown, etc etc etc. your have to make sure you look stunning on your big day.” Michelle was married to a wealthy business man last year and was speaking from her experience.
“Oh. There are a lot of things. I didn’t think about those.” Angie felt a bit uneasy.

“By the way, have you bought some new underwear for the wedding?” Michelle asked.
“Why do I need new underwear? I’m not showing them like supergirl does.” They all laughed.
“Of course you need new underwear. You can’t possibly be wearing some old ones under the beautiful dress. Everything has to be perfect, girl. That’s your biggest day. It’s your wedding.”
“I never thought getting married can be so hectic.” Angie answered with a sigh.

“No worries. There is a sales starting today at the Mega Mall. We can choose some sexy lingerie for you. You shall be the princess of the day.” Lin suggested.
“Yeah, Ming will crawl on his knees just to kiss your toes.” They laughed and got ready to go shopping.
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Ming was trying hard to complete the report on his computer but his mind was blank. He realised he was just staring at the computer screen without typing a single key for the last 10 minutes. Giving out a long sigh, he knew he needed a break. Without thinking much, he dialed his good buddy’s number and asked him to go for coffee.
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Angie and her friends were moving at snail pace on the main road due to a massive traffic jam. Michelle was getting restless and she kept changing the radio channel.

“What the hell is going on? This is really unusual for a Sunday afternoon.” Michelle was obviously upset.
“Ming just called. There is a demonstration in the city. That’s the reason of the slow traffic.” Angie explained.
“What’s it about?”
“I think he said it’s the protest against the violations of human right in Sri Lanka by the military towards the Tamils.”
“Where is Sri Lanka? Why do we care?” Lin joined in.
“I think it’s somewhere in Africa. You know, they always fight there. Poor countries have nothing else better to do.” Michelle said.
“Whatever. We better hurry up. I don’t wanna miss this week ‘Gossips’ on TV. I wonder if Tom Cruise is really having a divorce.” Lin said.
“We are not getting anywhere in this traffic, girls.” Angie said with a sigh.

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Meanwhile, at the café, Ming and Johnny were happily sipping ice coffee and getting updates from each other.

“So. What made you decide to bite the bullet and tie the knots?” Johnny asked jokingly.
“Well, I’m tired of the dating days. I guess it’s about time to settle down and have some good family life. We have been dating for 3 yeas now. It’s my responsible to marry her. That’s the right thing to do, I guess.”
“Good on you, old man.”

“Save some money on telephone bill too.” Ming answered jokingly.
“Not a bad plan. Cut back on dating and focus your energy on more important things.”

“The big boss from US came to the office last week and announced re-structuring plan” Ming started in a more serious voice.
“Oh no. Are you affected in any way?”
“I escaped narrowly this time. Had I not been close to my country manager, it would be me instead of that guy, Albert, from the technical team. Now, I have to double up to cover his jobs too. Things are not going well.”
“Take it easy, man.”

“Johnny, I can’t take it easy. There are so many things I need to take care of. The wedding is driving me mad. Everything costs money, I mean lots of it. The reception, the dowry for Angie’s family, the wedding dresses and photos, the honey moon and the list goes on. I haven’t even paid up the credit card bills for the last 2 months”
“Don’t forget the new furniture.” Johnny said.
“Yea man. If I lose my job now, I will be well done.”

“Have you talked to Angie about these troubles?” Johnny asked with a more concerned tone.
“I can’t. I don’t want to let her know that I m weak and vulnerable. You know, she always thinks that I m the strong person who can support and provide for her. I want to give her good life after we are married”
“You better watch your back then, iron man.”

“To compound the problem, Angie has a very demanding mother. The last few months had been, to put it in management term, very challenging. To top it up, this is just the wedding, the beginning of our marriage.” Ming said in a rather sarcastic voice.
“Well, a lot of people mistaken wedding as marriage. Wedding is the most important moment, if you care to ask any of your lady friends.” Johnny replied jokingly.

After a brief silence, Ming tried to change the subject.
“So, what about you? Have you found anyone when you were overseas?”
“No. You know me, Ming. I like to roam freely. Moreover, I don’t always do the right thing at the right time.”

“Face it. Miss M is not coming back. Get over and move on.”
Johnny took a sip of the ice coffee and answered softly.
“It’s not all about her, my friend.”
“Ok. Tell me what you have been doing all these years.”
“I’ve been traveling in Indochina and doing volunteer work since I left my previous company. It’s really fulfilling to know that my work has made life better for others.”
“In two years, I’ve seen and learnt so much. I think I’m the one actually benefiting. You’d never imagine what some MNC from rich countries are doing to reap profit from the poor people.”
“Well, I’m all ears. Tell me all about it.” Ming said excitedly.
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Back home, Ming had worked on the report for another 4 hours until he was too sleepy to open his eyes. He decided to go to bed early and wake up early tomorrow to finish the last part on executive summary. Just then, the phone rang and it was Angie.

“Hey. I have bought some lingerie at Mega Mall. Guess what color?”
“I have no idea. As long as you like them.”
“What color do you think we should choose for our new curtain? I like the one with Tweetie Bird on it.”
“That should be fine, dear”

“Have you done the short-list of restaurants that I told you to do last week?”
“Sorry. I haven’t got the time to look at that yet.”

“What? You always have time for your work and your friends but not our wedding. I m still not your first priority even our wedding is in 2 months time. Can you please put in a little more effort in our wedding?” Angie raised her voice a few decibel.
“It’s not that, dear. You know I love you and m looking forward to our marriage. I can’t wait to get into our married life.”

“You know Michelle’s husband took care of everything for their wedding. He also accompanied her to choose her outfit and booked a boat for their wedding photo shooting. Now, I can’t even get you to shortlist a few restaurants? What about the guess list that I have to do on my own? You just don’t have the heart for me. Mother was right about you.” Angie started sobbing on the other end of the line.

Ming let out a long sigh, silently. He knew his plan to wake up early to finish off the report was blown and he would have a lot to explain to his manager.

Irresistible women

There have been some female friends of mine who complained about not getting their partners’ attention or the TLC they were entitled to. Well…
Not that I am an expert in understanding women, in my humble opinion, there are several unique characteristics that make women irresistible male magnets, as far as long term attraction is concerned.

The first is Independence. She has her own life to live and maintain her lifestyle by choice. It may not be a lavish or in layman term “high maintenance” type of lifestyle. She doesn’t depend on someone to provide her happiness; instead she derives it from her own hobbies and interests. Hence, her world doesn’t revolve around anyone, particularly her partner. She has her own time table and arrangements and follows her own pace.
In contrast, women who play “up to you” and “whatever” games are the ones who annoy everyone around them, including themselves. They usually blame everyone but themselves for not providing happiness. The highest level is to play the “guilt” game which goes like: “you are my husband (boyfriend). Is it not your responsibility to make me happy?” or “You are my husband (boyfriend). Don’t you know what I like?”

DOH! Wouldn’t you wish you had dated a PS3 instead.

Self respect is probably the next one on the list. She who has self respect respects others. This includes his privacy, his personal space and his family and friends, In return, she gets the same from her partner.
On the other hand, women who haven’t enough self respect tend to be more possessive. “I am his wife (girlfriend), I have the RIGHT to know everything about him”. Hence, checking his SMS, hacking his email, demanding hourly updates on his night out, controlling his expenses even stalking happen naturally. Thanks to modern Information Technologies, now she can even stalk you on facebook. Who’s that bitch you added yesterday? why didn’t you upload our pictures? Yada yada yada…
Even if you are not half the speed of Bolt, dash; if you still want your sanity and self respect intact.

Confidence, the twin sister of self respect, is the next irresistible charm of a woman. This is manifested in how she speaks, how she dresses up, how she interacts and socializes. A confident woman doesn’t fish for compliments and talk bad of others to “uplift” herself. She knows herself and seldom intimidated by younger or prettier or richer women. More importantly, she doesn’t interrogate her partner to find out about his ex.

A lot of people confused confidence with “cockiness”. The most distinctive difference is self respect as explained before. Women who play hard-to-get or just plain cocky lack self respects and respects for others, as well as the right eye contacts and usually pleasant smiles. That’s the reason you feel comfortable and relaxed talking to a confident woman.

The opposite is insecure women who are products of little self confidence. They would do the opposite of a confident woman: Crave for attentions, fish for compliments, jealous frequently, over dressed, overly sensitive. They all have one common interest – to find out everything about their partners’ ex and everything about their ex after a breakup.

In a nutshell, women with self respect and confidence live in the present and look forward for the future, whereas lacking of them makes women live in the past and hard to move forward.

The next one is sense of humor. Generally, people with sense of humor are more pleasant and take things easily. This is not to be confused with lack of seriousness. Sense of humor enables us to laugh at ourselves move on in the face of failure. It’s also the ice-breaker in social interaction and the lubricant to reduce a looming conflict. Relationship lacking sense of humor would make it dull and, well, very mechanical.

However, if you just after short term attraction from men, wear a tight mini skirt and loosen the top 3 buttons of your shirt. As simple as that.

City of sin

I got the idea of this story while I was on the train going from Bangkok to Hatyai in January 2009. wrote most of it in the quiet weekend night at Goulburn TAFE residence.

_______________________________________________________

The traffic in the city is still busy even it is already past ten o’clock at night. Where is everyone rushing to go to? Sometimes I wonder. Everybody seems to be going some where and they don’t even have time to look at each other. Their look lost no matter how much money they spent on the cloth pieces that draped around their other wise naked bodies.

The lights in her unit are still on. This means the man is probably still there with her. It doesn’t matter. I can wait. I have the time and patience of the whole world with me. I can sit here all night long without even being noticed by anyone passing by me. I am a part of the features of this big city; just like the furniture in an office, nobody cares to give a first look.

That’s just fine for me. I can come and go un-noticed to perform my obligations in this world. It’s not something pleasant but somebody has to do it. Although we are not supposed to meet, I know there are thousands of us who are performing similar obligations. GOD gave us HIS clear instructions – get their confessions or rid the world of shameful sins.

With GOD’s will, I have already perfected my skill after all these years. I have the tools and skill to perform my obligation efficiently in the shortest possible time. My tools are all in my bag which I have checked before I left home. I m meticulous when it comes to performing my obligations for GOD.
I can still remember how clumsy I was the first time I did it. GOD tests and trials all HIS servants, but HE also guides and shows them through divine means. We just have to read HIS signs with faith.

My precious collection will be my testimony of faith to GOD when HE finally decides to call me back to HIM. Such precious should not be in possession of those who had sinned. They should all go back to GOD when I finally meet HIM. I always keep them safely on me and I had sworn to protect them with my life.

A police woman just walked past me and she didn’t even notice my existence. I blend in perfectly in the city. In fact, I m part of the city. People will be missing something if I m not here one day.

The last light has just been switched off in her apartment. I will get ready for my job.
“Oh Father in Heaven. Praise your name king of the mightiest. Give me strength to perform what you have obligated me.”


Detective Lynda is awaken by the phone at 5am.
“You better come and take a look. There’s another case.”

“When? Where?”
“Body found half an hour ago. The Winners Tower Condominium down town.”

The pale body lays still on the metal platform. Her facial tissues are so tensed up that her eyes and her nose are drawn close to each other. Her mouth stays opened due to the constricted jaw muscles and open wounds are visible on her lips and tongue.

“She looks like she is still screaming” Detective Lynda says to Juan, her assistant.
“She bit herself many time, must be really in pain.”
“You would bloody too!” Replied Lynda angrily and pointed to the body’s hands and feet.
“Yes. I can see that.” Juan answers.

All the nails on the fingers and toes are gone and they are dark brown from the bleeding and bruising.

“They were pulled out one by one with force. I can’t imagine the pain.”
“What the forensic say?”

“She was chloroformed, tied up, nails pulled before the jugular was cut with probably a surgical scalpel. She was left bleeding to death.”

“If I catch this psycho, I’ll personally smash his balls with a hammer.”


All the people who know him call him “gecko”, for his ability to climb and break in. He has a name which he wants to forget. It seems very, very long ago, the days when his mother was still around. She used to call him Jun, the first syllabus of his real name which he tries hard to forget. His childhood was happy but short. It ended when he was eight after his father fell from a construction site 20 storey above ground. Soon after that, he was not a child anymore.

He remembers the frequent visits of some “uncles” at night and the voices from his mother’s room, which forced an eight year old to understand what “adult” meant. He knew his mother had no choice, being a single mother with 2 young children. Every time his mother took another “uncle” into her room, he would hide under his blanket and pray to GOD to give him strength and power to take his family away from all these. The next day, he and his younger sister would get some coins to buy ice cream and they would have chicken for dinner. He hated himself for not strong enough to support his family; and he hated himself more for not being able to resist the good food.

After a good dinner, the cockroaches would come to get their feast at the rubbish bin. Sometimes even some rats would turn up. He would be waiting at the bin with a thick rolled up news paper and whacked the cockroaches as hard as he could. He felt all his shame vindicated when their bodies were crushed with a “splash”, as if they were the men who abused his mother. Occasionally, he was fast enough to hit a running rat which knocked it out and would have some fun time taking care of it later.
He chopped off the tail and threw the rat into an old cooking pot half filled with water. When the water started to boil slowly, the frantic sound of the rat scratching and banging against the metal cover made him feel that he had finally claimed his revenge against the unjust world. When he grew older, he learnt a new trick from a rubbish collector. He chopped off the paws from the captured rat and then soaked it in kerosene, set it on fire before letting it loose. Without the paws, the rat kept falling over when it tried to run away. He would stand and watch until the hair and skin of the rat were all burnt while it was still alive. He then threw the rat into a bucket of hot salt water before finishing it off by crushing the skull under his shoe.


“The squeaking and scratching. Just fucking makes you high”. He used to tell his friends about this.

He never forgets his 13 year old birthday. He went home and found his mother strangled in bed, naked and with her hands and feet tied on the bed poles. The government took his sister away and put her in an orphanage. He ran away and had never used his real name since then.

He is now 20 years old and has been going in and out from juvenile detention and prison for God knows how many times.
“Who gives a shit” He likes to say.
Although he has been on the street for so many years, he has been booked but for petite crimes like snatching, break in, mugging etc. His mates call him “Gecko Chicken” because he has no balls to do real jobs.
“We shall see who really has balls, one day.” He used to say.

He has been eyeing the lady for at least 30 minutes now. She is holding 2 plastic bags full of grocery and a small blue backpack is hanging on her right shoulder. A middle age woman who looks like thousands of average women in this city; and she probably has a very common name too.

“An easy target.” Gecko says to himself.
From experience, he knows her wallet is in the blue backpack, which probably contains one month worth of grocery for her family.

Slowly, he approaches the lady from behind while pretending to be talking on his mobile. When he is behind her, he pushes her hard on the back and grabs her blue backpack. She falls down on her knees but quickly turns and grabs on one of the shoulder straps of the backpack. Without mercy, Gecko kicks her in the ribs and follows with a big strike on her hand that is holding on the strap. To his surprise, she ignores the assaults and uses the free hand to hold on to another strap. Gecko pulls back and she loses balance and falls face down on the ground, but still holding on tightly.
“You bitch!” Gecko shouts and stomps on her wrists with his hard boots. He hears a crack of broken bone.
She lets out a whine in pain and let go. Gecko grabs the backpack and runs to the waiting motorbike. The woman gets up and starts chasing after them on foot. Her face is bleeding from the abrasion and the broken wrist swings when she runs.
“Give it back to me, you thieves” she yells, oblivious to the pain.
His mate speeds off immediately.
“You damned sinners, give me back my …”


“Dang! There’s nothing in this backpack! Nothing.” Gecko’s mate is yelling angrily.
“Only one phone card and 2 boxes of this colorful crap. Looks like some broken seashells or fish scales. Worthless shit.”
“Bad luck. Let’s go to Charley’s place to have some booze. I have something important to do later in the night.” Gecko says to his mate.
“Why do you sometimes disappear at night? Where did you go? You are not screwing some bitches secretly, are you?”
“Mind your own business and shut up. Let’s go OK.”


Gecko opens his eyes slowly and realizes that he can’t move his limbs. To his horror, he finds himself tightly tied to an arm chair and his mouth is also gagged. There is a light shining directly in his face, blinding him.

“Do you know that you have sinned?” suddenly a voice breaks the silence. It is cold and without emotions.
Gecko shakes his head trying to free himself. He tries to speak but the gag is too tight.

“In the name of GOD all mighty, I shall perform my obligation to punish a sinner. I give you one last chance. Are you willing to confess your sins?” says the voice. Gecko can’t see the person who is behind the bright light.
Gecko jerks frantically and wants to scream but muffled by the gag.
“Very well, sinner. You have refused GOD’s offer. I shall perform my duty now.”

Sweats starts to wet his shirt as he realizes what is coming upon him. The clanging metallic parts bring back the old images of the rats to him.

Without warning, he feels a sharp pain on his left thumb, which sends a surge to his brain and his whole body. He jerks violently and screams through the thick muffling gag. Sweat all over his body and he is shaking uncontrollably for the pain is too unbearable.
Before the pain settles, he feels something cold, metallic in his mouth and with a jerk, one of his front teeth is broken off. He screams at the top of his voice but can only manage low, choking sound in the throat. All the muscles in his body constrict and cramp.
He doesn’t know where he is anymore. The pain has put him into a different world.


Inspector Lynda looks at the body and shakes her head.

“This one is by far the worst. Besides his nails on his fingers and toes, all his teeth were broken off one by one. Poor burger, it would have been more than hell for him.” Juan says.

“His nails were pulled before his hands were chopped at the wrist. The purpose was to inflict maximum pain. What sort of devil could have done this?”

“He must’ve angered someone really badly.” Lynda says while pointing to the body’s naked chest.

“THOU SHALL NOT STEAL FROM GOD’S MESSAGER” is crafted into his skin.

Thinner

Recently, there was a case in UK where a 7 year old was starved to death by her mother. This is my take of a similar story. of course, the fictional parts are fictional, including the names.
"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5453570/Seven-year-old-girl-starved-to-death-by-her-mother.html"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

She took a deep breath after taking off everything on her body, including the rubber band that she used to tie her hair. Very slowly, she stepped on the digital scale and exhaled until her lungs was empty. The scale showed 40.2kg.
“Not good. I have to work harder and control myself”. She thought.
She turned on the light in the bathroom and looked at her naked self in the mirrors. The mirrors were arranged at the right angle so that she could see her front and back without turning around. Her collar bones and ribs were clearly seen, as well as the protruding spines on her back.
“I will have to buy the more of X-slim from Angie later. Have to make Mei-mei to eat more. She is not slimming down at all”

Tonight is weekly gathering night that she had never missed since she joined the group. She took a quick shower and drove to the Angie’s house with Mei-mei.
On the way, Mei-mei was sitting quietly with her head down.
“What’s the matter, my dear?”
“I m hungry, mom.” Mei-mei answered in a very soft voice.
“What? You are already over weight and all you can think of is food? Do you want to be a fatso when you grow up and have no husband?”
Mei-mei dropped her head and kept quiet for the rest of the journey.
“My dear, I m doing this for your own good. It is more painful if no man want you, than to control your weight and look pretty. Look, all these X-trim products are not cheap and I m working very hard just to pay for them.”

There was already a small crowd at Angie’s house when they arrived.
“Oh my! Linda. You look slim and great. How I wish I can look like you.” Angie greeted them at the door. Linda loved to be complimented. This was the only pleasure she had after her husband left one year ago.

The gathering started with everyone chanting the weekly motivation slogan.
“We can and we shall make it. X-trim, Xtrim, we shall be slim”

After the chanting, it was the weighing session.
Linda waited nervously when Mei-mei stepped on the scale.
“Have you been eating our X-trim product everyday as per my instruction?” Angie asked Mei-mei.
“Yes. Auntie Angie.”
“Mei-mei, you have gained 1 kg since I weighed you last week. Give her a boo, everyone. Mei-mei is a failure.”
Mei-mei stepped down from the scale slowly and didn’t dare to look at Linda.
After the gathering, Linda dragged Mei-mei to the car in brisk steps.
“Come on. You useless fatso. You are really good for nothing. You must be eating secretly at school. I have to see your teacher tomorrow.”

“Ms Linda. You have to understand. Mei-mei is 10 years old. It is perfectly normal for children at her age to gain weight because she is growing up.” Mei-mei teacher, Mrs. Ravi explained patiently to Linda.

“I don’t care. I don’t want my daughter to become fat and disgusting. I want her to have good future. I request the school to monitor her and make sure she doesn’t eat anything other than the food I prepared for her.”
“Ms. Linda. This is not the responsibility of the school to do this. Besides, Mei-mei is a very smart child and she needs balanced nutrition for her brain development. The slimming product is not suitable for young children.”
“Oh. Now I understand. You had been giving her those fattening food. I know, you are jealous to see us look slim and pretty. Look at yourself, fat and disgusting. Did my ex husband pay you to ruin our lives?”
Linda walked out angrily from the office and slammed the door.
Mrs. Ravi shook her head and sighed.
“Poor Mei-mei.” She thought.

“The whole world is against us. Why do they want to ruin our lives? Is it not enough for him to dump me for another woman? Now they want to ruin my daughter’s life too. I have to do more to make sure she doesn’t grow into a disgusting fat girl.” Linda thought while she was driving home.
“I will double the X-trim ration for her everyday. That should make her slim down faster.”
++++++++++++++++++++++
Linda was hysteria and needed 3 men to hold her down when the paramedics put Mei-mei’s pale body onto the ambulance.
“WHY are you taking away my daughter? Give her back to me! You are all jealous and want to make us suffer. She was doing very well and slimming down finally.”
At the hospital, Mei-mei was lying with her eyes closed and her father was sitting by her bed.
The doctor spoke to him earlier about the condition of Mei-mei.
“Your daughter has a serious problem. She had probably consumed large quantity of supplements containing excessive copper and selenium, which caused the liver and kidney to overload. These minerals also suppressed the iron and potassium levels in her body and as a result, they have caused other complications as well. We will do our best.”

++++++++++++++++++++++

Mrs. Ravi cried when she read the last entry in Mei-mei’s dairy.
“Mommy said I m a useless fatso because I m not slimming down. I hate myself and I don’t want to be a useless and disgusting fat girl. I will eat more X-trim than what mommy gives me so I can slim down quickly. Mommy will be very proud of me when we go to Auntie Angie’s house next week.”

what u don't know can't hurt

With the advances in information technologies, we must know much much more than the people 50 years ago. Right?

Do you know these? (http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Child_Labour/lang--en/index.htm)

According International Labour Organization, ILO, 2006, there were 218 million working children of age 5 to 17 years old.
Among them, 74 million were working in hazardous environments like mines, chemical plants etc.
Another 8.4 million were slaves, child prostitutes, child soldiers etc.

To put the figures into perspective, 74 million (74,000,000) is equivalent to 1/20th of the world children population in that age group. That means, 1 in every 20 of the children were forced to labour in hazardous environment.

They are the defenseless group of human being who are suffering in silent, while constantly subjected to physical and sexual abuses. They are forced to work long hours with no pay, and no hope.

Want more figures? In South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) there are about 2.2 million children working in the carpet making industry. In Cote d’Ivoire (Yes, that’s where the great Chelsea striker Didier Drogba comes from), about 100,000 child labour work on the cocoa plantations.

So, what have the adults done about all these annoying figures?

Surely those righteous adults who yell and scream every week about love and moral must be doing something, right?

Surely those caring leaders who always say “children are our future” and never forget to remind us “to do it for our children”, must be doing something, right?

Sadly, very little has been done and the figures are in fact growing. I guess, what u don't see or know won't hurt you. out of sight is out of mind, as long as MY children are still OUR future.

Honestly, I have no answer to this darkest side of human suffering. However, there are some hopes, but I m not entirely sure how true are the claims.

FAIR TRADE claims to guarantee that products, such as chocolate and coffee, are“slave free” and have not been made using forced labour.

RUGMARK also claims that no illegal child labour has been used to make the carpet or rug that bears the stamp.

In the name of global economy and free trade, how much of the world wealth and economy growth is built on the sweat and blood of those skinny bodies digging in the coal mines? To put in cynically, "Its bad for business and economy growth to do away with such cheap labour"

I m not trying to feast on your guilt here, but the next time you reward your children with a delicious piece of chocolate, give a thought for the thin, scarred hands that picked the cocoa beans.

Children are our future

Dedicate this to the millions of children who are going through similar hardship everyday around the world. whoever read this, pass the message on.

The sky was still dark when Maly got up from the wooden plank he was sleeping on. The zinc roofed hut they slept in was almost saturated with smell of urine from a rusty tin container in a corner. The hut had no windows but two small openings in the wall. Maly and his 15 other companions were waiting but nobody said anything. A few minutes later, “Big guy” Le Gros came and opened the lock from outside.

They went out and were joined by other groups of children at the shed on the cocoa plantation. Le Gros barked some instructions and they were given their tools and rations.
Now, it was the harvesting season. Maly and his companions had to fill up the sacks and transport them to the collection point where the trucks were waiting.

He felt hungry and weak, and the sack full of cocoa beans was getting heavier and heavier. He had to wait for another 4 hours before he could eat his ration of corn and banana paste.
“Think of birds when you are working. Don’t ever think about food.” That was the advice given to him by Agasi, who was older and taller than Maly.

Maly bent over while the other 2 children lifted a big sack and placed it on his back. He walked difficultly trying to balance the sack but tripped and fell on the ground. He heard an angry shout and almost immediately the burning pain of Le Gros’s cane was on his back and thighs. The other children came to pick up the spilt cocoa beans while he struggled to get up to avoid more beatings. Being beaten was almost a daily event and nobody showed any emotion about it.

After the sun had set, Maly and the children were given a ration of rice and a cup of sweet drink. After eating, they were lead back to their small huts.

On their way, Maly saw a big white car drove past them and stopped in front of the manager’s house not far from where they were. A well dressed white man got in the spotlessly white car and it drove off in another direction.

“That’s our big boss, Mr. Santos. Greet him the next time you see him. Understand?” Le Gros barked out loudly at them.

**************************************************************
Mr. Santos and Anna, his pretty personal assistant, entered the VIP room at the airport. The journalist from Business Times stood up and greeted them.

“Thank you so much for coming. I am Andre Luz from Business Times. It’s my pleasure meeting you, Mr. Santos.”

Mr. Santos gave him a warm smile and a firm handshake before they sat down on the couch. Andre couldn’t help to notice how pretty Anna was in her well tailored, fitting business suit.

“Mr. Santos, last year you were nominated as the person of the year by the Environmentalists magazine. Can you tell us more why did you choose to produce your cocoa beans by organic standards?”

“This is simply because I believe in the organic principles of agriculture. I truly believe that everyone has to play his or her part in preserving our environment. Organic farming principles focus in applying environmentally friendly methods to improve soil fertility. The key principle is sustainability. I believe that it is the responsibility of us farmers to take care of the earth and keep the soil healthy. When we leave a farm, the soil should be better and more fertile than when we started.”

“Being certified organic, is your operation entirely chemical free?” Andre continued with the interview.

“Definitely. Using chemical pesticides and herbicides pose a heavy toll on our environment. They are polluting our food, soil and water sources. Furthermore, they don’t solve the problems that they were supposed to solve. On all my plantations, we use cultural and biological methods to control pests and weeds.”

“Organic products usually get premium prices in the market. Is this part of the reasons you went for organic certification?”

“You are right that organic produce is usually more valuable than conventional produce. But no. It’s not the reason why our farms employ organic methods in out operations.”

Mr. Santos looked at Andre and said with his sincere voice.

“The main reason we are doing it organically is because we believe in preserving the environment for our children. We want to give them a pollution free world for them to live better, healthier and happier. Children ARE our future.”

Joy of Life

Sometimes, we don’t realise the passage of time and carry on with life until we are given a gentle tap on the shoulder.
Well, I received such a delightful tap just few weeks ago.
My baby sister has her own daughter and now a mother. Little Xin Yue is indeed a bundle of joy. Even I haven’t met her yet, I m sure we will get along vey well in few weeks time when I get home

Huaaah! Me need some service here.

Now I can zzzz

We all grew and aged, like it or not. I can still remember very clearly many things that happened in our childhood. We used to call her “Bobo”, the cute little bear who always runs along side Yogi Bear in the Hanna Barbara cartoon. They always get into trouble with the ranger for stealing food from the tourists. Hahaa..

She was one cry baby, who cried at least twice a day, for whatever reason.
I used to walk her to the kinder garden at the Fairpark church. At home, she would sing to us the children songs she had learnt at school.
In fact, I can still remember a few of them. Like “Pearly shells, by the ocean, shining in the sunlight….”, “one two three four five, once I caught a fish alive, but then I let it go again, why did u like it go, because it bit my finger so…” and “rain rain go away, come again another day…”

Time flew and the next time I went home, she was already a young girl in her last teen years. I can still remember that time when she cried quietly before me after her first break up. Really broke my heart.

And the next time I went home, it was her wedding. For the first time in my life, I had to give away red packet for a sip of Chinese tea. Everyone in the family was happy and we went to Bahau to attend the wedding dinner.

This time I go home, I will be greeted by my baby sister and her little baby. How nice. Life ain’t too bad.

Darkest day in Malaysia

Democracy is dead in Malaysia.
I always wanted to keep my blog away from politics, but what has happened, and continue to happen, in my beloved home country is too much for any right minded, thinking human being to bear with.
(www.malaysiakini.com)
If Right is thumbed by Might, what option are we left with, besides stand up and stand taller than the oppressive might?

I used to read the news about Zimbabwe, Fiji and other so called failed states with sympathy for the oppressed. Nevertheless, without really relating myself with how they were feeling. Now, I understand fully the agony and disappointment they must had felt.

What history will record today 7th May 2009 as?
The day democracy was raped and murdered?
Or the milestone when people’s power finally stood up?

Whichever, I mourn today as the darkest day of my home town, the once peaceful and beautiful Ipoh.
And to the umno scums and their supporters, go fuck youselves.

WWOOF experience

For those who are wondering, WWOOF stands for “Willing Workers On Organic Farms”. It is a system where travelers work at participating organic farms in exchange for lodging and meals. Every year, thousands of young (and not so young) travelers and farmers benefit from this win-win deal.

My first WWOOF location was at Backwater, a beautiful property at Bermagui, NSW.
Backwater is a beautiful piece of property with splendid views of greens and the Cuttagee Lake. There is about an acre of productive organic kiwi orchard, while most of the rest of the 80 acres are devoted for forest conservation and regeneration.

The house has been well designed and built for comfort. One of the many features is plenty of natural sunlight inside the house. The water front view accompanied by singing birds had made my breakfast enjoyable every day I was there.

Colin and Anne Browne are the good couple in their golden eighties. They are probably two of the nicest people I have ever met, with seemingly all the calmness, contentment and patience that one can find.

Their positive energies propagate through their entire farm especially on the animals. The horses and cows are calm and friendly, even to a complete stranger like me.

Of course, I have to mention the 3 dogs.

Mickey is the most playful and he likes to sleep on my bed.

Fred likes to snuggle and enjoys a belly rub.

Lily, Mickey’s mother, is the quiet one and always waits with hopeful eyes under the dinner table whenever we are eating.

Colin and Anne are true believers of sustainable living with minimum carbon footprint. Solar power, wood fire, rain water, grow their own greens and collect mushrooms from the bush are just some of the good examples of how they practice sustainability in their simple and yet healthy and pleasurable life style.
They are in their golden eighties and still reasonably active. Anne rides horses regularly and plays golf and table tennis weekly. I am sure they would easily outrun anyone their age or even 10 or 15 years younger.
This is probably due to their active lifestyle when they were younger.
They had their own sail boat when they were living in Papua New Guinea and used to make island hopping their regular holiday program.

If there is one thing that I have learned from them, it is sustainable lifestyle is both practical and healthy.

Thank you Colin and Anne.

What Human Life worth

In a report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), presented at Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin (April 1995), intelligent and smart economists from renowned universities in UK and USA made this remarkable claim:
Value of human lives in developed countries is 15 times higher than undeveloped or developing countries, in terms of US dollar value.

In other words, 15 hardworking but (nevertheless) worthless poor farmers in Kenya are worth 1 good junkie drunk in London.

This report was aimed to provide monetary values to every possible damage due to climate change, an effect of 2 fold Carbon Dioxide (CO2 and other green house gases) in the atmosphere would cause.

The conclusion of this ground breaking, enlightening report was: the total cost of damages (include human lives) would be about 2% of the world GDP (again in USD) by then, which would almost equal to the loss in industrial production if all measures were made to avoid this increase on CO2 in the dang atmosphere.

You are forgiven if you feel lost at this. I don’t expect anyone to understand something as stunning produced by great minds to be understood in seconds.

Anyway, in a nutshell, it means:
· If we don’t do anything to check the CO2 increase, we will lose human lives worth about 2% of world GDP; on the other hand, if we do our best to avoid this, we will lose real value worth about 2% of world GDP.
· One life in civilised and developed countries is worth 15 salvages in uncultured poor countries, in monetary terms.

Get it now?

But think about this:
- Who produces most CO2? Let me give you a hint, in terms of cars per 1000 person, Luxembourg top the list at 647, at 16th place, USA 460; China less than 100 cars per 1000 person. (shame on the chinese)
On energy consumption, measured in kg-of-oil-equivalent (kgoe) per person, Iceland top the list at 12,000, USA at about 8,000 (not bad, Yanks), China at 1300 kgoe/person. India? 490 kgoe/person!! (Pathetic isn’t it?)
(Reference: “earthtrends.wri.org”)

- Where is most of the world population? Good, cosy rich countries or stinky, smelly, worthless poor countries? Need another hint?
By 2050, there will be 50% & 20% population in Asia and Africa, respectively. On the other hand, 7% and 4% ARE IN Europe and North America. (reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/)

- Who will suffer most in the event of climate change? Honourable intellectuals in rich temperate countries equipped with reversed cycle AC, or low peasants exposed to the elements in humid, hot poor countries?

The “carbon foot prints” of the highly regarded, civilised countries are much, more bigger than those low lives in 3rd world countries.

Now, do you understand the good reason why the richest countries are dragging their feet to rectify some of the recommendations by real scientists?

They can afford do nothing and retain the 2% GDP while most of the damages will be in poorer countries. Who give a shit about poor harvest in Laos when they can still smoke cigars over brandy under the maple trees?

If the low lives in poorer countries demand equal carbon right and pay per use sort of policies, guess who will have to pay more?
I think this is utterly rubbish and ungrateful. The poor fella has been using all the goodies from developed nations, e.g. IMF supports, world bank, consultation etc. They even generously accept goods from these poor countries for offsetting their debts.

But… but… who put them in debts in the first place? You may want to ask.
That’s a very good question. Hahaha. OK, next question?

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change
Defending the Value of Life from www.gci.org.uk/vol/vol.html#intro