Malaysia, oh, Malaysia ~ watashi no me wo toushi te mite. . .

First of all, I have want to say that I make no apologies for what I am about to blog. Initially, I wanted to just keep silent on my blog about the matter but as more and more news come, I cannot help but blog about some Malaysian's response toward the cataclysmic disaster that hit Japan.

As some of you would already know, there are some really insensitive comments posted on facebook about the disaster and how it is a retribution for the Japanese people with regards to their past etc. Man, how insensitive can people be? With a natural disaster at a scale so great hitting Japan, with so many deaths, with despair looming among the people, some people are able to stand back and laugh and taunt those who are suffering. Goodness! Do they not have a slight bit of compassion?

Before I go any further, let me give you an update on the situation in Japan so that you know how bad the calamity was. The Star reported today (read the full news here) that the officials fear that more than half of Otsuchi's population of about 19,000 is buried under the rubble. As many as 10,000 people are thought to have been killed. Kyodo news agency said 2,000 bodies had been found on the shores of Miyagi prefecture, which suffered the brunt of the damage. Do read the full news to get the severity of the situation there. Here are some videos and pictures for you:

Video of the tsunami hitting Japan:

Video of the devastation in Japan after the tsunami:

Pictures of the devastation in Japan:

And even amidst these hopelessness and devastation, we Malaysians can still make insensitive statements like these. To take the embarrassment a step higher, Malaysia was highlighted in the international news (CNN) with regards to Japan's disaster, not for the good, but for the bad (Read the news here). Our own Malaysian artist would draw such a drawing to mock the Japanese (whether intentional or not intentional, a little sensitivity would be nice) and the shock of it all, how could the editors of the newspaper allow this to be printed?! Do they not care of how the Japanese would feel? Instead of rallying people to help Japan, or inviting them to keep Japan in prayer irregardless of whatever religion you ascribe to, or instilling compassion to our Malaysians (especially the children), they end up mocking and showing insensitivity. What would the children learn? Possibly this: "When other people are in need or are facing tough times, we laugh at them." Quite feasible huh?

Let's take it a notch higher. I just saw a press statement by our First Lady, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor with regards to this issue. She did TRY to show some sensitivity but I believe it was just a facade. Why would I think so? I justify my position with the following reasons:

1. She seems to be putting the blame on the Japanese people, as if they were the one who caused the earthquake and tsunami.

2. She does not know her facts when she makes her statements.

The following is the video of her press statement:

The following is my response toward her statements:

There was a statement made: "tragedi tsunami dan gempa bumi di Jepun adalah akibat kelalaian negara itu melaksanakan pembangunan mesra alam" (roughly translated: the tragedy of tsunami and earthquake hitting Japan is because of their oversight in using ecofriendly development). She made a statement saying "apa-apa (negara lain) pun mereka nak buat ataupun sebarang pembangunan yang mereka ingin lakukan seharusnya mengkaji dulu keadaan sekeliling dan mengaitkan dengan 'climate change' dan 'green technology'" (roughly translated: whatever (other nations) would want to do (in the future) including any development they would like to do, they must first research their surroundings and consider climate change and green technology). Firstly, who says that Japan is not ecofriendly in their policies, including those with regards to development. In fact, when compared to Malaysia (of whom Datin Seri Rosmah is from), Japan is way more advance in their implementation of ecofriendly policies. According to Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Yale University, Japan was ranked 20 in their 2010 rankings of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with a score of 72.5 whereas Malaysia is ranked 54 with a score of only 65.0 (see the rankings at epi.yale.edu). In terms of implementation of ecofriendly laws and policies, Japan has done it and is the top 20 among all nations when it comes to their implementation. Another point to note is that Japan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire. This means that earthquakes and volcano eruptions are common and bound to happen in Japan. There is a reason we call these occurrences as "natural disasters" - simply because it is nature taking its own course. I would think that Japan knows that they are in the Pacific Ring of Fire and would have considered the fact that earthquakes are bound to happen in their nation and would develop accordingly. In fact, I must salute them in terms of their construction of buildings for being designed to be able to withstand earthquakes. With such a construction and development in their science and tech, I would feel that it is rather unfair to say that they did not consider their odds as well as the implementation of "green tech" in their development. Also, how do you prevent something that happens naturally? Let me pose another question. How can we prevent death? We cannot. Isn't it the same when asking people to prevent natural disasters from happening? Yes, I do agree that development and progress does affect the occurrences of these natural disasters but to (seemingly) place the entire blame on the Japanese is simply unfair.

I believe that such statements made from all levels of society is rooted in a supremistic ideology. It is the simple thinking that Malaysia is way better than Japan that allows people to make such statements instead of words of compassion. Really, open up your eyes and you will see that the Japan is far more supreme when compared to Malaysia in terms of development, progress, and people's intelligence as well as living conditions. They are also very ecofriendly despite their constant progress. But the responses of Malaysians such as these show me that Malaysians need a whole lot more of compassion, not only for those we can relate or of those we consider our brethren but to mankind as a whole, no matter what skin color, no matter where they come from, or what language they speak. Because at the end of it all, we are all the same. I once read a quotation from a friend's blog (quoted from Farish A. Noor's book) that goes something like this: "'racism' does not exist, because as far as the strictest technical definitions goes; there is only one race. The human race." Yes, let us not have compassion for only certain people but for the whole human race. Simply because we are the same race - the human race.