You’re Poor? Oppssss….

Isn’t the world ironic? Imagine a hall filled with learned and passionate individuals trashing out on the issue of national poverty. Ministers were invited; NGOs were present; government officials presented their cases; private sectors displayed the human thrust of Corporate Social Responsibility on the issue of poverty eradication; and yours truly was sitting in the middle of the hall, beside a Dato’ Seri absorbing it all.

7.30 am…before the crowd trickled in. Many were a little late, thanks to the road blocks. =(

There’s was catch though. =) While it was a summit to address and tackle problems of national poverty, it was held in a well, 5 star hotel: the Sunway Hotel and Spa. The delegates ate GOOD FOOD! There were leftovers too! And guess what, there wasn’t a single poor citizen there.

Scrumptious food! I am certainly not complaining!

And we were debating about the poor. Go figure.

Today I had the opportunity to attend the “National Summit on Urban Poor & Low Income Groups” jointly organized by ASLI, CPPS, ad SUHAKAM.

I actually plan to intern here once. But they can’t accommodate me as there are already people filling in.

Poverty has always been something dear to me. See…my father, like many others during his time, was from a poor family. So poor that his family can’t afford a house. They had to rent a room to fit a family of 7 instead. If that wasn’t bad enough, my dad lost his dad at the age of 10, thus adding more burden on my grandmother as the sole breadwinner of the family. My father had good grades but was unable to further his studies due to financial constrain.

Most people will now gasp of horror thinking that I’m washing dirty linen in public. Who wants to be associated with a poor family right? WRONG! I don’t think there’s anything to be ashamed of admitting what I just did. In fact, there were many more like my dad, just trying to make ends meet. And there’s many out there, till today, despite the boom of fantastic opportunities. still live below the poverty line. The first step is always acceptance. Acceptance that the world doesn’t owe us a living.

And they deserve an equitable access to the rights that we, the affordable, can.

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That’s why I have to congratulate the organizers for bringing together panels from across the political divide, to sit down and address this national plague. Skipping all the unnecessary details, let’s give you the PRIME highlight of the day!

I shook the PM’s hand. I shook Dr Ng Yen Yen’s hand. I saw a real ad hoc press interview which appeared in prime news (I should have made funny faces behind). I took photo with Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. And I CHATTED with Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon.

MB Selangor giving his statement on the Parliament exodus after the rejection of the no-confidence vote.

And yeah, the best part is, I was in the same toilet as Dato’ Seri Sami Vellu. =)

And his hair looks, well……..”real”. =p

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PM’s speech was rather cliche though. It’s the usual, 9th Malaysia Plan and the corridor corridor thingy. But the real fun came when he deviated from his script! He set up to illustrate to us that solving rural poverty is the key to addressing urban poverty. And guess how he did it?

I SHOOK HIS HAND!! And he was INCHES away from me.

He did it by explaining to us what DURIANs can do. Make tempoyak, frozen durians, durian ice-cream…i forgot the rest…but I am sure there was seven. And he went on to tell what we can do with MANGGO too!! It was a great lesson in culinary arts if you ask me. But to be fair to him, it was rather entertaining. =)

I was entertained by durian and mango talk.

Another highlight of the event was definitely Dr Ng Yen Yen. She’s what we call “GIRL POWER” man. She made all the other panels look like pale flowers. When it was her to speak, she grabbed the microphone from the chairperson and as she was walking to the podium, she said: “Since I have such short time, I better talk as I walk.”

She kick ass man. Guys! Buck up!

And she was the bomb. Facts on her finger tips, abided to the time allocated, presented her case with minimal reference to her notes….gosh, I wish ALL government servant was like her.

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This is the best part though:

A panelist actually proposed good recommendation to tackle poverty! Serious! I wholeheartedly support his case! The first thing that we need to do among the poor is called BIRTH CONTROL. I mean seriously, take a quick glance on the majority of recipients on aid. How many kids do they have?

I mean, one would definitely be amazed that despite such harsh economic deprivation, they still had the time to have sex. Think about it! A rich man works till death and comes on late at night too tired to have sex. And a majority of people under the poverty line, know perfectly well that they can’t afford to survive with their income, but YET, they decided to be a little “hardworking”.

Look, I know some say that a child is God’s gift. I don’t doubt that. But we shouldn’t be too greedy with God’s gift too right??

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS GONNA END IN A RATIONAL NOTE……….SHIT HAPPENED.

Panelist: I once known a lorry driver who now earns RM 100k a month. How did he do it? Firstly he married his first wife. And then he married his second wife. And his second wife opened cosmetic stalls all over the nation.

WTF??? Polygamy as the solution to poverty???

I SUPPORT!!!

(Ok lah, to be fair to him, I actually knew what he wanted to say. It’s just that he didn’t phrase his words properly. Just teasing.)

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And yes, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon! Look, I seriously think he’s a nice guy who got screwed up cause he happened to be on the wrong side of the river. And I was impressed on how he reacted to the lost on March 8. He was professional enough to own up for his flaws.

Ying Ying, Tan Sri and I

Hats off sir!

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It was a day filled with new experiences and networking. I’ve met lots of new friends that I’m very glad to know and people that share the same passion as I do. These breed of people are rare to come by. And I was damn lucky!

So what’s next?

Drink coffee, become MP, go to parliament, and pass the law to legalize polygamy!!!

COFFEE PEOPLE??

Last 5 posts by Jian Wei

• One Minute to Midnight - January 1st, 2011
• Prophecy - December 31st, 2010
• Footprints We Leave Behind - November 4th, 2010
• Budapest: Contradictions Aplenty - August 15th, 2010
• Istanbul Day 3: Masters of Our Universe - August 11th, 2010

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