MH 370 : Will the Wall of Hope and Care Turn to A Real Ladder of Assistance ????

Now that news have come out that there is almost no hope of finding the passengers of MH 370, reality will sink in for the families of the passengers.

The reality is:

a) For those who have children, families or parents to take care of - where is the money going to come from to live?

b) How are these dependants going to get into the bank accounts and properties of the passengers so that they can continue living -there will be alot of bureaucratic hurdles which will make their life difficult  - no wall of hope, prayers and cards can alleviate it except real practical assistance to remove these hurdles !

To me, now comes the real test of compassion, care and assistance - will those who can help assist these victims to put their life back on track?

Will the respective governments, civil servants, insurance companies and MAS itself do what it should to ease the process for the families of the passengers on MH370?

Will all those who wrote on the "walls of hope", prayed in masses and sent flowers now make another mass plea and pressure those concerned - to ensure that the families of the passengers of MH 370 can get back on track with the least bureaucracy possible? it can be done.

Otherwise, I will be convinced that all those prayers and walls of hope are mostly nothing more than mere hype to make oneself feel that one has "cared" .

If I am one of the families of the passengers, I want help to get back on track, not some scribblings on the wall and some mantras.

Peace !

MH 370: CONDOLENCES FROM JUST

The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) is deeply saddened  and grieved by the news that all the passengers and crew members of MH 370 may have perished in the air tragedy that occurred on 8 March 2014.

 

Our heartfelt condolences to the kith and kin of the 239 passengers and crew.

 

Our sorrow is all the greater since one of the stewards on that ill-fated flight, Mr. Junaidi Kassim, is an uncle of JUST's Senior Executive, Al-Malik Abdullah.

 

We pray that God will grant solace, strength and fortitude to the families and loved ones of the deceased as they bear the pain and agony of their terrible loss.

 

Al-Fatihah.

 

Chandra Muzaffar,

On behalf of the JUST family.

DO not lose focus like MH 370

There is always the real possibility that after a while, people will lose focus on what the real issues are in the MH 370 episode. It is very easy to let emotions be manipulated so that the people will forget the real issues.

Should not the real issues be:

1) What really happened and how it could be allowed to happen? And why it happened ?

2) Should there not be total transparency on the part of authorities  to the People?

3) Are the families of the passengers being taken care of as well as is possible to go through the trauma ?

To me these are the real issues and the rest is circus.

Peace !

MH 370 - Occasion for renewed Humanity ???

Most certainly it was a shocker to me when news broke that MH370 just disappeared off the radar screen.
How is it possible for such a huge machine to just disappear?  Ever since then there has been many theories, search and rescue operations are still on and organised prayers of all sorts.

Personally, though hopeful, I will find it highly improbable that the plane will be found in tact.  If intact, it would have been found already.

My prayers are that whatever the experiences of the passengers, God is merciful to them in all ways possible. To the relatives of the passengers, I pray that God gives them the strength, the faith and patience to go through these difficult times. I also pray that they are gifted with relatives and friends who can comfort and console them. I cannot do more for them.  

What really bothers me is that while I am sure there are many sincere people praying sincerely, many others are turning this prayer thing into a major circus and PR exercise. If one of my relatives were on board, I would be more hurt than happy to see the circus.

 I have often wondered if it is really a sense of humanity that brings people together when there are calamities and disasters or is it simply herd survival instincts taking place. People who are humane remain humane at all times - happy and sad moments.

For the very people who know the passengers, it is real. They feel for them and their families. I am referring generally to the frenzy that seem to have overtaken the country - what ? They really care for the fate of the passengers? I doubt.

I know I am saying things people may not want to hear or may sound morbid.

I know that the frenzy will soon die down and it will be business as usual for everyone except for those who are directly related to the passengers.

As far as MH 370's disappearance goes, I think people just want to know what and how it happened. They simply want their curiousity satisfied and they want to know who to blame. They also want an occasion to have a "party of caring" and for those with vested interest it is an opportunity to achieve whatever base objectives they have. Vultures are a fact of life.

I am sorry, I am not convinced that many care.

If people really cared how different is the daily starving, dying children all over the world???

If people really cared in this country, how caring are us to the children and old persons not from our ethnic origin? How caring have we been to those from different faiths from us?

How caring are us to the fate and struggles of the immigrants amidst us?

It seems to be just facade after facade that many engage in. I simply refuse to be part of this facade. I just want to know what exactly happened with the hope that a) this can be prevented in the future b) to book in the culprits, if any and c) to understand manipulative behaviours, if any.

I would rather turn this MH 370 episode to remind each of us alive in Malaysia how fragile and temporary this life is and that we must start now to take care of each other. I would rather this be a message of renewed love and sharingness between Malaysians....to remind ourselves to sprinkle some of that love and sharing to the unfortunate immigrants in our midst. This is the kind of prayer that I want to see - a prayer that can be translated to reality with our hearts and with our actions. But alas, we are stuck in symbolism.

We have a real chance to be together and to be humane now. There is no need to wait for a disaster or a calamity before we learn that God intended us to share and care.

Peace !

Malaysian Airlines: families should 'prepare for the worst' - video

Peace !

Only the People can bring about real reform

I am sure quite a number of thinkers, real reformers, prophets and ordinary people must have said this before.  But we forget easily. Life and its demands make us forget it. Our sense of helplessness, and the threats, bullying by the powerful and the institutions make us think we are weak and make us adapt.

Only the People can bring about true reform – if we are united and help each other.

We are not united in our sense of helplessness and our hopes because we have been forced by the system to become slaves of the masters that have been created. Due to our disunity of purpose and hope, we continue to be misled by the politicians and the institutions that continue to take our away our dignity as human beings.

We continue to be oppressed by those who abuse democracy for their selfish ends.  We fail or simply think we have to accept a system that does not throw us the best choice of candidates as leaders.  

Hence we do not have leaders who really understand the aspirations, needs and hopes of the common man. These leaders do not understand that we want a safe home for our kids, that we want affordable homes, food decent employment to live, and basic necessities like free education,, free medical services, child and old age care and so on.  All these can be done but they do not and will not do it as efficiently as can be done.

The reason is simple: they do not and will not face these challenges because they,  their children and their cronies live a luxurious life of aplenty.  They cannot emphatise with the needs that they themselves do not have.  They themselves are stuck in the position to sustain their status and lifestyles.

Do you not recognize them and see their game?

Do you not see the conspiracy between the politicians, the capitalist and their religious elites to keep the People politically, economically and spiritually enslaved? So they can perpetuate their position of influence and give the people an illusion of reforms, and illusion of service?

They have managed to divide us, not only along racial and religious lines but occupationally as well.  We have been tricked into thinking we are just civil servants, workers in the government sector, private sector and so on letting us forget that we are at the end of the day – common, ordinary folks who need each other.

It is sad that occupationally be have been divided until we often become enemies of each other instead of cooperating to enhance our quality of life. Thus, we become even weaker to confront the oppression by the politicians, capitalists and the religious elites. We continue to be humiliated slaves on God’s earth – struggling only to survive.

The People have to be united – doesn't matter who we are occupationally, we have to help each other, help each other to make our lives a little easier.  

Our only defence against the oppression of the politicians, capitalists and the religious elites is our unity and cooperation.  Only we can bring about real reforms. We are our only hope.

We have to make the 21^st century the era of the common People.  

We and our children have a God given-right to live in dignity.

Peace !