Can You Spare a Penny?

I have not blogged in awhile. Many reasons comprise why I haven’t and busy and not having enough time are two of the primaries of which I’m guilty of. Many events have come and gone since my last post on the 1st of October and the state of the world today has not improved. In fact, I think it’s taken a slight detour towards the dark side right now (Darth Vader eat your heart out!).

Let’s see. Since the last post, there’s been more beheadings in Iraq, Bush Jr. has successfully retained his presidency in perhaps the most divisive and, certainly, the most expensive election campaign in America’s history, Arafat is hanging by a thread onto a controversially led life, the battle for Fallujah is on and raging intensely as I type these words out, Japan was buffeted by typhoons and an earthquake, Indonesia has a new president in the country’s first direct presidential election and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai is now a popularly elected president. All in the space of just a month.

But here in Indonesia the common people, those that make out maybe 50% of the country’s 200 million living at or below the poverty line (I might be wrong), are strangely ignorant. Mayhap that daily survival is paramount in their minds. Strange isn’t it? The world is turning on its head at the moment and the only thing on the minds of the people that I see everyday on my way to work is basic survival. I see them carting meager goods for trade by hand, scrawny bodies broken and abused by the years of back-breaking work without the hope of neither betterment nor comfort.

Imagine that, eking out an existence without hope. Having neither the skills, education or opportunities that, for the most part, we take for granted. To them, there is no future but the present and for their children, who go around begging for money the equivalent of which is less than RM0.20 in a lot of cases, they face a similar brutal cycle. No footwear, at an age when they should be playing and learning to read and having enough food, they earn their next meal by begging at passing cars. For most, a life of crime seems firmly on the cards and the concept of the sanctity of life or respect for the law is but an abstract notion. How do you develop such concepts when it’s the law of the jungle out there?

Sure we’ve seen abject poverty on TV. We’ve donated to charities and mission workers who work among these people in Africa and other parts of the world. But, in my opinion, there is something unsettling about abject poverty occurring in urban centers. People scraping out an existence, not living mind you but existence, among those who pack the latest in mobile communications every other month.

Just for contrast, I spent the weekend in Jakarta at Plaza Indonesia. My team decided, after spending the morning in the office, to go and try out the cinema in the place. My Indonesian colleagues were saying that it’s a movie experience better than KL or Singapore, or any where for that matter. So we went.

Plaza Indonesia is poles apart from the stark poverty not 10 minutes walk in either direction. If blatant wealth is visible in KL, it is even more so in this place. I recognized name brands that are not even present in Malaysia and Vertu even has store there (they of the USD20K handphone). And the place was full.

So there we were, suddenly feeling like we’re back in KL, albeit a more costlier version of it. We beelined it to the cinema and lo and behold, the place was like the lobby of the Mandarin Hotel in KLCC. Lush carpets decked the floor, high ceiling chandeliers throwing out soft diffused lighting and massive center aisle roundtables to hang around at. Just like majestic ballrooms at some major hotels in KL. We lined up and ponied up Rp50,000 a piece for ticket. That’s RM22 a pop which makes it the most I’ve paid for an individual ticket for a movie in my life. And that was the standard class ticket.

What’s the point of all my tirade? Let’s just say that this is a country of extremes. The poor are very poor and the rich are, well, rich. The civil government structure is a relic of its times and corruption is so pervasive a presence that most Malaysians coming to Jakarta for the first time and staying for a while will find more than a bit shocking. Here is a country ranked 3rd last in a global study for transparency.

Plus, of course, I’m in a right melancholy, introspective and (cutting down on the adjectives here *grin*)….mood.

Sigh….when me and my team leave the office today, to cross the road to grab a cab back to the apartment, I know I will see that family there by the curb. The mother and son of not more than 5 years of age asleep on a plastic mat, a hand drawn cart with all their earthly belongings nearby and their father, exhausted and scrawny, smoking a cigarette trying to keep awake, watching them as they sleep. What his thoughts are I can only imagine. Yet all around us, gleaming buildings, auto dealers, a hospital, a business center.

And Hari Raya is next week when the entire nation celebrates after a long month of fasting. I guess that family would not have much of a fast to break for I can only guess how much they get to eat a day. I pray that the new president will find some way to clothe and feed his people and I thank God that, for all of Malaysia’s faults, we still have a functioning government and missions to minister to the poor. What good is the Gospel among people who find salvation in a bowl of rice each day?

Again, I’m reminded by how blessed I am. That even as I curse my job sometimes, I still can decide to eat whenever I want to, I have a roof over my head and blah…blah…blah….

Enough gloomy, gloomy. My Malaysian team is slated for rotation back to Malaysia for an entire week due to their long Hari Raya weekend! Plus, my wife, me and my in-laws will be zooming to Penang for my grandfather-in-law’s birthday. Looking forward to that and the glorious food….Swatow Lane here I come….Asam Laksa behind that garbage dump *smacking lips*…ohhhh so heavenly. Not so looking forward to are the barrage of inquiries as to the status of our marriage. Status as in husband, wife and…..baby? Ha!

I know, I know. All this seems just a bit incongruent with what I wrote just now ain’t it? I can’t explain it myself and I don’t think I want to. But I know I would like to involve myself with ministry for the poor when I’m in between projects. So let’s see where God guides my heart and I’ll pray about it and keep hoping and praying for those without hope.