Questions

For the first time in five days, I saw something more disturbing than footages of the disaster of the century. A colleague forwarded to me a reminder e-mail allegedly addressed to Chinese people around the globe. Inside is a few lines in Chinese that basically said we should only make donations to help Indonesians after we gang rape their women and men, and kill them. The message is followed by a link to an autobiographical account of a Chinese girl's unfortunate experience in Indonesia back in 1998. Next to her words are numerous photos of gang rapes and all kinds of dead bodies that are too graphic for my tolerance.

I don't doubt the authenticity of the autobiographical report or the explicit jpegs. I'm not completely oblivious of the human rights abuse and sexual assaults parts of the Chinese population in Indonesia have gone through. In fact, I remember visiting this link years ago and thinking to myself how is it possible that any human being can treat other human beings this way?

The bigger question now is, seeing the death toll climb day-by-day to over 100,000, what more does it take for human beings to be less barbaric* than to say things like "gang rape their women"?

To think that the reminder message was initiated by a Chinese and is being circulated by Chinese, I lower my head in the utmost shame.

Those affected by the tsunami come from over 40 countries around the world. There exists at least one sound excuse for each nation of the world to refuse helping each of these 40 countries. I just pray that if our Mainland is ever attacked by natural disasters, the 40 countries won't be using "they didn't help our people after the tsunami" as an excuse not to come to our aid.

Contributing a few percentages of your month's salary by filling in an online donation in the comfort of your home is far from turning your other cheek. It merely means you're not hitting back.


* At the time of the 9/11 ordeal I also pondered on how such things can happen in a civilized world as ours. Then I realized those behind the plot aren't at all civilized. But Al Qaeda members have excuses to be barbaric. They live in caves and eat rocks.