Crunch by Nuffnang: Issue 2

TO MALAYSIA, WITH LOVE
ARE WE REALLY
AS KIND AS WE
SAY WE ARE?
Meet any proud Malaysian or visiting pinkcheeked
tourist, and you’d be assailed by a
dozen and one proclamations of how kind and
hospitable Malaysians are.
The question is, though, is this really the case?
Certainly, we Malaysians have our own worries,
most of which have to do with putting food on
the table for our families- but is the situation so
dire that we cannot spare a single RM5 for the
underprivileged?
This is something that I noticed over the years,
and I was made all the more acutely aware of it
during my time studying in Australia.
There, if there is a charitable cause that needs
the aid of the public, everyone would know of it.
Large banners, posters, advertisements and the
like- it is near impossible to be oblivious to it all.
It is almost as though they are boldly screaming
for everyone’s attention. Here, however, it is just
about the direct opposite phenomenon.
Charity events tend to fly under the radar, and this
in turn does not bode well for the organisers and
the people they are fighting for. Our exposure to
such attempts are spotty at best.
This lack of presence has always been niggling
at the back of my mind, a sense of discomfort
for being ignorant to the silent cries of help that
could be out there.
It was only when I started attending charity
events that this feeling returned full force,
exacerbated.
One of the most recent I attended was the
Empire Back to School Project 2017; a cause that
aspired to provide school supplies to orphans and
children from poor families.
I had looked around at the time, experiencing a
mix of small, selfish happiness for having helped
someone else, and more overwhelmingly, sadness
that these children needed our help at all. Yet
the plight of the underprivileged is not the only
reason such events have a melancholic note to
them.
Photo Credits to our Nuffie
@whatisaiahsaw