Grumble.....Grumble......Grumble

on Friday, May 09, 2008

Meet Grumbles.......
Grumble....grumble.....grumble. I am grumbling. Why am I grumbling? I am grumbling because of...........

a) Rising Food Prices: - All around the world the price of food and especially staples like rice has been going up in price. In some parts of the world, the price of rice has gone up threefold in the last year. The reason for this price hike may be due to a number of complex issues but it has mainly been due to greed and mismanagement. Reasons such as the loss of agricultural land to industrial development, decades of impoverishing farmers by fixing staple food prices at too low a level to benefit city dwellers, food crops diverted to better paying biofuel production, shortages within food producing countries due to dealers smuggling grain out to sell at higher prices in foreign markets. In Thailand, there is talk of joining forces with other rice producing countries too take advantage of the rising prices by forming a Rice Cartel so that they can force higher prices on importing nations. The Thai Prime Minister asks Thais to eat less rice so that they can profit more from selling the rice. Greed. Greed. Greed and now a global food crisis.
(This is what my meez is protesting about).

b) Military Juntas:- Like the government of Myanmar who show little concern for their people even in the face of a natural catastrophe like Cyclone Nargis. With a death toll climbing into the tens of thousands and an estimated one million without shelter, food or safe water for almost a week, the government is still holding up the entry of international aid by insisting on lengthy negotiations before allowing permits and visas for rescue workers. One report claims that an aid agency was told that financial aid in the form of hard currency could be handed over to the government official but the aid workers and relief supplies cannot enter the country. The military and there soldiers seem to be largely missing from relief efforts. In some villages, the soldiers have not come to help but instead the Buddhist monks that they have been persecuting are the ones on the ground rendering aid and clearing debris.

c) Monsters:- They exist. I refer to those men who prey on helpless children and sexually abuse them. In an update of the sad and tragic story of the Austrian woman who had been sexually abused by her father since she was 11 years old, imprisoned in a cellar for 24 years and forced to bear him seven children, the father has since claimed that he is NOT a monster. He argues that if he was a real monster, he would have killed his daughter and all seven offspring, burned and disposed of all the bodies and he would not have been caught. Instead, he points out that it was he who decided to let her and the children live and therefore, he is not a monster but responsible for sparing their lives! And then there is the pedophile that Interpol is searching for who is believed to have been sexually exploiting countless young children and having the incidents recorded on the internet. Monsters.

Sorrrrry for being so negative but it seems like its been a bad week around the world. Grumble....Grumble.....Grumble.

Cyclone Nargis

on Monday, May 05, 2008

PhotoCredit: AFP/Getty Images

Sadly, once again a severe storm has wrecked havoc and taken many lives. This time it is Cyclone Nargis which struck Myanmar on Saturday. At the moment, the death toll is already estimated at 4,000 but ominously, the BBC reports of fears that in one badly affected town, the death toll there alone may reach 10,000 while a further 3,000 are believed to be missing.

The cyclone reached land on the Irrawady Delta which is the most populated region of Myanmar and is also the country's rice bowl or main rice producing area. Hence loss of life and property could also be followed by food shortages throughout the country.

The amazing thing is that Myanmar's closed and secretive military junta government still insisted in hampering international aid from arriving without negotiations which are aimed at restricting movement and monitoring their activities. As I type this almost 48 hours after the cyclone hit, only several small recce trips by UN officials have been agreed to. Politics seem to be a hindrance even to helping the suffering victims.

Is this cyclone another sign of climate change? It would be impossible to say that with 100 % certainty but I believe so. I do not recall any cyclone as severe hitting Myanmar in the last century. Certainly, as a result of climate change, we will see more of these devastating storms.

Will it make a difference to the oppressive political regime? Sadly, probably not as long as their leaders are more concerned about their own well-being and position than the needs of their people.

In Malaysia, we have a large number of Myanmarese. All of them are here to try to make a better economic future for themselves and their families and some are here to escape persecution and political oppression. Some are here legally but most are probably here illegally having trekked through hundreds of kilometers of jungle and possibly braving the sea in small boats. They are very much at the bottom of the pecking order in Malaysia but they have generally made a reputation for themselves as hard workers and honest too. As difficult as their working conditions are in Malaysia, their job provides a hope for a better future for themselves and the families they left behind in Myanmar. Today, many will have the extra burden of fear and uncertainty and even grief as they await news and worry about their families at home.

Join me in praying for them; praying for many lives to be spared, for international medical and rescue help to arrive quickly, for political change and healing for the country and the people.

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