Do comfortable people realize, that thought the unprivileged must work to earn theirs, sometimes the playing field is not fair? Do people of countries realize this, when comparing theirs with another country?

Last night I read a tweet from Accenture citing a World Economic Forum on economic growth forecast of India, that will grow twice as fast as Russia’s, in the next 3 years. A few things popped in my head, and the following were some of them, in the tweet form that I put out.

At what expense/sacrifice? RT @Accenture: #wef study on growth: Nxt 3 yrs, India’s economy grow twice as fast as Russiahttp://bit.ly/y5msQO

It’s unfortunate, tho to some level understandable, tht our measure of ‘growth’ is often (solely) on economic terms. It’s difficult to escape(but shldnt be ignored,better still addressed),tht economic growth often has negative impact in othr areas.

Jst bcz u dont hear about others experiencing negative impact fr positive economic growth doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

Jst bcz that voice of dissent is not loud,or strategically or constructively voiced,doesn’t negate the reality of the injustice.

U must keep in mind, the groups/segments of society tht is often at tht rotten end of injustice,dont hv the same resources u do. By tht reality,their platform4voicing out d injustice they go thru at d expense of the progress by others,isnt ‘democractic’ Bcz it’s not the same level playing field anymore (as they have as compared to those who have benefited).

Perhaps it might help ur perspective,looking at it on global platform,esp since the upper n mid class r more ‘international’. U cant compare the powers of a developed country (esp former imperial powers) w/ tht of a developing country (esp ex colonies). The measurements we compare today of what btwn the 2 have,was built upon based on the resource available 2 them. Worse still, if the resources of the developed, was plucked (exploited) fr the resources churned out by the developing. Not to mention,tht thru out the time the ‘developed’ was building themselves up, the ‘developing’ was busy working 4 the former.

So now take tht illustration, n look into d local context w/in a country,btwn the balance of the upper class n the lower class.

Look into the sector of access to education (opportunities), healthcare access, economic potentials. It goes a long way. When u look at it tht way,u might b more careful calling someone ‘kampung’ or ‘jakun’ n understand the gap in thinking/lifestyle. Bcz tht gap is socially n economically constructed, to benefit a segment of society, n to deprive another segment.

To some extent tht gap is inevitably, but tht does not discount the smart, by allowing them to be ignorant. That doesn’t discount the rich, to distant from the poor. If that’s not enough to knock some sense,imagine if u were in the shoes of the deprived and ignored. K. Aku penat. Slamat malam.

‘Wallahi all the girls tell me I look like Drake… Bro, I want her to smell me in Palestine… SWAG – Something We Arabs Got.’

Legend.

In relation to my previous post, I find this poem most apt by Taylor Mali. But it has more to do with a few of the inconclusive discussions I’ve initiated with friends recently.

That is this,

When somebody speaks loudly of what they have, they do, they know, it seems that the only category that person could belong to, is a negative. Boastful, arrogant, showoff, and other siblings of such verbs.

As oppose to, when somebody is asked, a question like, ‘how are things?’ or ‘how is business?’ there’s a cultural obligation to say something that negates reality, to the point that it becomes a negative, if not be quiet about it.

The point here is the conclusiveness of summarizing a display of character, that has led to people taking it one way, and no other way. Even if it is accepted as that, for example the question of ‘how is business?’ and it is replied with confident (not positivity but) good truth, the person asking will at some level get cheesed off. Either because of the response, or the non-conforming answer the other person gave in the context of how everyone else would usually say it.

Secondly, what I find is more alarming, is that such a widely accepted cultural practice, etiquette to some extent, leads to the imposition of not just not telling the truth, but giving a response that is the opposite.

But yet in a modern society where human values become more and more absent, (where a little gesture of kindness is celebrated beyond reciprocity by virtue of absence by others, disproportionate,) and the society that is more participatory in personal PR through channels like social media, that we demand sincerity more than before, the issue I raise above still looms like a never ending monsoon cloud.

I look forward to the drought, where though the air is dry, the sun is shining.

Worthy of your time. Those before, and after us. Watch (listen) to it here.

- http://zainhd.com/2011/08/that-great-speech-by-charlie-chaplin/

A video worth watching, for activists and non-activists. Whatever you’re mooting for.

- http://zainhd.com/2011/07/second-leader/

Don’t wait till you’re at the rotten end of injustice, to understand why it matters. To do something about it, when you’re in the position to influence change, no matter how little.

As asylum seekers face being sent from Australia to Malaysia, Dateline reports on human rights concerns over conditions there.

It’s not difficult to loosely comment this issue. But try seeing this from the perspective of the refugee, and not of a citizen with a protectionist mindset. Watch the video.

- http://zainhd.com/2011/06/refugee-life-in-a-proud-developing-country/

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*This post was originally written/published on 24th September 2010. I’ve reposted here for your reference, since this is the topic of my column in The Star, on 1st June 2011 (click here). If you’re interested to join, just go turn up at the locations I mentioned below. There’s nothing wrong about turning up alone. Don’t let questions or excuses get in the way of you participating. Enough of thinking and talking, now is for doing.

Thanks to (somewhat relentless) invitations from Amin Rahman and later Juliana Tang, on Wednesday night I went to the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen and did live updates on Facebook and Twitter as it was going on. Many would like to know more so I’ll share here. In a nutshell, it’s a group of volunteers who go out to two specific locations in Kuala Lumpur city, four nights a week and give out food.

From my understanding, Pertiwi (Muslim Women’s Action Association) is the coordinator. They get funding and donation from various sources. With that money, they buy packs of food from a caterer whom I’ve been told, that sells at cost price.

Two core groups of volunteer organizers run the preparations and on-ground operations. One covers Monday and Friday nights, and the other Wednesday and Sunday nights. These two groups then go out and recruit volunteers to come and assist their group for the nights they cover.

The volunteers are made of Muslims and non-Muslims, locals and foreigners of random ages. They are either independent individuals or representative of the organisations that are also supporters of this project. To roll out, there must be seven people involved total, fifteen would make it comfortable and to have twenty is a fun night out.

Everyone gathers at 142, Jalan Maarof, Bangsar. At about 8.45pm and then the car-pool convoy, including the small lorry donated by Rotary Club that carries the food, leaves for the first location which is behind Tune Hotel (map) on Jalan Sultan Ismail. Once that’s done, then it’s Kotaraya (map). The whole exercise should be done by 10.30pm, if not earlier. After which, most of them would congregate somewhere for supper.

I’ve only done this once and will abstain from sharing my views in entirety. But should you be interested, there are two imperative points to note. Firstly, at no point was I or the recipients of this aid were approached by the organizers, speaking about Islam or anything to that effect. From my observation, everyone, organizers and otherwise were there to get the work done.

Second point is, should you participate, please be mindful that a segment of the recipients of the food you give out to are either jobless and/or homeless people. Don’t be aloof and take for granted by assuming they think and see things the same way you do. They can be edgy and/or temperamental (let’s be fair, we all can be like that when hungry), though I must say that 98% of them were both courteous and thankful to the volunteers.

http://zainhd.com/2010/09/an-intro-to-soup-kitchen/

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The following, is just what I posted on Twitter moments ago:

Im abt 2 rant.&no, dnt excuse me.Its a point Ive 2 make,that may only b relevant 2 Muslims as that is the target audience this time. I’m not asking or suggesting you to be for or against Valentine’s Day, neither to keep dwelling about how good or not JAKIM is. While I understand, that Valentine’s is more in your face, and probably tangible, but as with the same line the discussion has been quite involved with Islam lately. Conveniently it’s a public holiday for all tomorrow. And more so, it’s Maulidur Rasul if the basic premise of being Muslim is subscribing that the Prophet (Rasul) is your Messenger, then surely it would be within your interest to note that tonight, at dusk where the beginning of day is in Islamic calendar, is a significant one. We can go on ends debating either Valentines, Maulidur Rasul or Zain’s self righteous surprise to speak on religion, or we can do that, AND be part of a maulid/maulud. There’s one tonight at Al-Falah mosque, USJ Taipan. I’ll be there most prob.

*On Tuesday night, another function at Wilayah Mosque.

I’m trying to remember which year was it, or which trip specifically, that drew me towards kids. Be it observation, pictorial or engagement. Above is a picture with me and four cousins I had never met prior. One on level, children across lands, know little of colour, belief, background, language, but probably appreciate humanity more than their larger counterparts. To quote someone’s comment on this picture:

by the way that pic of you with the kiddos IS SO DAMN CUTE! to quote one website that i randomly read, it’s the sort that makes women’s ovaries hurt. LOL!!!

- http://zainhd.com/2010/12/bahawash-kids/