Little Kids With Guns

Came across this news article in TheStar a couple of days back. It reads “Up to 6,000 child soldiers recruited in Darfur”

Imagine that. Children as young as 11 years old are carrying guns, going around KILLING people. Most of them probably don’t even know what are they fighting and risking their life for; it’s a battle without purpose.

It’s heart-aching to see those children being robbed off their opportunity to live a proper life. Such experience would definitely leave an irrevocable scar and trauma on their lives. More importantly, they are being deprived off their rights to proper development and survival.

“U.N. agencies estimate more than four million people have been affected by almost six years of fighting in Darfur. Of those roughly 700,000 were born since 2004, so all their life they have lived in an area that has been in conflict”.

“Ahmed Adam is in the second grade. When he was just five years old, his uncle was killed in an attack on their village. The one thing he remembers about that day is the fear he saw in his elders and his parents, a fear that he did not expect from his protectors. Over eight people were killed that day. Luckily, after the attacks, him and his family were able to escape to Jabal Mastaria. For three weeks they stayed on that mountain until they were finally able to make their way to the Mastaria valley where many other villages had gathered.”

At such young age, much of hope is gone, robbed.

More sadly, the plight of the children is perhaps only a fraction of the crisis that Darfur is in. What happened in the past 6 years is an inhumane ethnic-based genocide that the people there do not deserve at all.

Some background on Dafur:

“Darfur is a western region about the size of Texas or France, located in Sudan – a country in northeastern Africa. The culmination of decades of drought and government neglect of the region led two rebel groups to challenge the Sudanese Government in 2003. In retaliation, the government unleashed a genocidal campaign against the Darfur rebels, and against living civilians in the region. As a result, over 400,000 people had died, millions have been forced to flee their homes, and countless villages have been burned to the ground. Living in a state of fear has become the way of life for citizens of Darfur”

All these may sound distant and unrelated to us. But ultimately, it has an easy and literal message to it; people’s lives are being taken away unrightfully (well, not that there’s a “rightfully” anyway).

Haven’t got time to research more on Dafur. If you’re interested, here’s a good place to start. http://teamdarfur.org/learn

It's the weekend

Have a happy weekend, people.

Nick Vujicic - No Arms, No Legs, But a Has Big Strong Heart

One of the many inspirations that I was blessed with last week.

Please just spend 6 minutes to watch this video. Have a time out from your life's hussle and be inspired.

How could we still not believe in ourselves after seeing this?

Bill Clinton in Kuala Lumpur – BC Sekhar Memorial Lecture

Turns out that I did attend Clinton’s lecture in KL yesterday afterall. Was held at KL Convention Centre.

But was there as a volunteer, and helped out in the public guests registration. And really, when you’re handling the mass public, you’ll get to meet lots of nasty people. Despite the many CEO, director, datuk, etc designations, a lot of people were just plain rude.

Ignorant people I’ve met a lot, but oh boy, yesterday was worse than that. Some would purposely find fault and raise their voices right from the get go; as though they’ll drop dead immediately if they be just a little courteous.

Not trying to chastise Malaysians, as most are nice and reasonable yesterday. But argg... those few rotten apples should be lynched.

Anyway, the lecture itself was great. Will not elaborate much on what Clinton said; just google it and you should be able to find the transcript or something. But what impresses me the most is Clinton’s vast involvements in humanitarian issues – HIV/AIDS, climate change, health care, economics etc – via his foundations.

And am quite sure that he’s very much passionate and involved in them because he can relate so well to those subjects. He shared a good number of stories, PRECISE facts, experiences, opinions and statistics. His knowledge on global issues is amazing. One moment he’s talking about AIDS, the other moment he’ll be talking about global warming and next bout the current financial crisis.

As I’ve always believed, a leader has to have a certain degree of intelligence. Yes, he/she has to be smart, sharp, and well-read, not just having oratory skills. Of course you’ll still need charisma, but above that, the knowledge must be present.

In Malaysia, there’re two MPs that I believe have such qualities – Jeff Ooi and Tony Pua. For me, they encompass what future Malaysian leaders should be.

Anyways, on a whole, it was a day well spent.

Distinct white hair dude – you know who.

In Tatters? What Tatters?

Much publicity has been casted on Thailand’s latest political rally, where the main airport was blockaded. Thailand’s political problem had stretch over 3 years, since Thaksin was ousted back then.

Took a glimpse at The Star’s headline today in a newsstand. It read “Thailand in Tatters”. I suppose many people would think that Thailand is in a big mess now; that people are rioting, bombings, shops are closed, debris all over, fights, killing, arrests, etc.

I beg to differ. If one thing that I learn about Thailand from those series of rallies is that the people there have GUTS.

That they are willing to fight and sacrifice for the betterment of their country.

That they’re brave enough to stand up for what’s right and wrong.

That they have the maturity to take action.

That they’re blockading the airport not merely to create havoc and inconveniences, but as a form of peaceful resistance for the love of their country.

And they’ve won. The Constitution Court of Thailand has sacked and declared the ruling party to be disbanded.

Assuming that there’re no further obstacles, Thailand can only grow from the ashes, move forward and be stronger than ever. The people have won, you can never beat people power.

To the Thais, good luck with much respect.