Saturday 31 July 2010

WAO

Friends, the best kind of support. They share, talk and listen. So, break the silence on domestic violence, talk to a friend.

In order to carry out our company's Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, the Treasury Sales & Marketing department made a courtesy visit to the Women's Aid Organization (WAO) yesterday to learn more about their operations as well as to provide some funding. It's nice to know that our philanthropic exercise was positively received by the organization and our company.

The WAO Refuge in Kuala Lumpur shelters an average of 100 women and 100 children per year (the children usually come with their mothers). The background of these women ranges from being battered wives, unwed mothers to abused foreign domestic workers and trafficked women. These women usually come to seek shelter for a period of one to three months.

During their stay at the Refuge, these women receive counselling, legal advice and help in restarting their lives. The WAO social workers occasionally organize weekly programmes and sessions that will impart to the residents not only legal advice but self-confidence, self-worth and job skills to help them lead better lives independently.

I am writing this post to raise awareness to those women who are exposed to such acts of violence. This organization will offer a safe haven and counselling to women in crisis as well as their children. If you need more details or would like to help someone who is suffering from abuse, please call (03) 7956 3488.

 The spirit of giving continues for Treasury Sales and Marketing. :)

Monday 26 July 2010

A Cry For Help

Malaysia is in dire need of an effective way to eliminate crime as crime is perceived to be one of the most pressing problems in society nowadays. Currently, Malaysia is the preferred destination for tourists and unfortunately, criminals. And it definitely does not help when feebleminded policemen, instead of carrying out their lawful duties to mitigate crime, set up unnecessary road blocks in order to make a living by blatantly demanding the public to contribute to corruption through paying bribes.

It does not help either if the government permits the employment of cheap, foreign labour, which also partially contributes to simple thefts, physical injuries caused by direct confrontation and simple wayward robbery. However, I suppose criminals have recently managed to take the progressive road to enhance themselves with investigative knowledge thus making the work of the police more arduous and difficult.

The reason why I decided to highlight this issue is because my boss just recently encountered an unfortunate theft episode in broad daylight, which involved two men on a motorcycle and herself, in her BMW. She happened to be stationary at the traffic lights of a busy crossroad in central Kuala Lumpur, when two men on a motorcycle casually approached the passenger side of her vehicle. Without warning, the backseat rider repeatedly thrust his elbow forcefully against the front passenger window until it shattered. And within the blink of an eye, he skillfully and swiftly grabbed her MYR8,000.00 Louis Vuitton handbag (the bag of course, costing more than its contents) and sped off instantaneously without even showing any signs of remorse. My boss was, of course, too stunned and petrified to react. If I am not mistaken, his arm was probably sheathed in something solid and strong enough to break the window of a BMW, some kind of tool.

Even though she was surrounded by other vehicles and onlookers, nobody was willing to help. Typical Malaysian mentality. Anyway, how can one ever expect lowlife criminals to show pangs of conscience? I suppose it does not take much effort to separate criminals from animals.

The moral of the story is anyhow: Ladies, do not leave your handbags on the passenger seat EVER and always be vigilant of your surroundings wherever you are.

Sunday 18 July 2010

Singapore Sling


Am currently basking in the glory of good ol' Singaporean sun with my old peers. Random walks and random chats with affable companions ignite the whole sense of familiarity and comfort despite the fact that I am on foreign shores. It's amazing how some have matured like fine wine into affluent individuals. Conversations like these are worth a king's ransom and I like this feeling of pure contentment; where people just laugh about silly things they did in the past without having to worry about being judged. Yes, humans do eventually learn to forgive, forget and move on. :)

Perhaps this complacent state of mind is also due to the fact that I just tendered my resignation and will soon feel absolutely liberalised from the overly-political and tiresome corporate world. As a result, I am now gradually acclimatizing myself to the long-forgotten days of being a student.

Hence, the oldfangled Summer days have now returned and am mentally, physically and spiritually ready to embark on another exciting journey to Hong Kong come August pronto!

 Sex On The Beach shots. Taken in Butter, Singapore on Friday, 16th July 2010.