Refugee Actions

My agency is currently undertaking a pro-bono project to publicise the plight of refugees in Malaysia, and galvanise some kind of action on their behalf. We had a VERY long discussion on the communications strategy recently, which highlighted many of the problems any charitable communications faced. The thing that irked me most is the unfavourable political situation. We can’t even name our current political supporters because that might bring negative scrutiny down on them, causing the UNHCR to lose their support. I hate this kind of self censorship. Most of all, I hate what it says about humanity. Are even our statesmen, our leaders, so gutless and entwined in political webs that they can’t even take a stand to save lives and raise social standards?

Peak Oil

What would life be like without oil? That’s the subject of Robert Heinberg’s The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies. His premise is simple – oil is disappearing, and if we don’t do something about it now, its disappearance will destroy industrialised society and our way of life.

To understand his point, first consider a simplified example of how energy is used in a balanced ecosystem. Plants must exist, as only they can capture sunlight to help transform air and minerals into biomass, which then provides food for animals. Plants are producers, while animals are consumers. In this ecosystem, plants must outnumber animals. If the ratio were reversed, animals would eat the plants to extinction, killing off their food source and then becoming extinct themselves.

Now consider a simplified example of human society today. Food consuming humans, e.g. advertising executives, lawyers, etc., far outnumber food producing humans, e.g. farmers and hunters. That is only possible because oil, its by products and its resultant technologies such as engines, plastics and fertilisers, has allowed each producing human to multiply his productivity, allowing a vast pool of consuming humans to survive. This dependency on oil to multiply productivity goes way beyond driving cars and electric turbines. Before the 1970′s, the average industrialised farmer used about 1 calorie of oil based energy, in the form of pesticides, fertilisers, etc., to produce 2300 calories of food based energy. Today, the ratio is 2000:1 – in reverse.

Now, imagine what would happen if oil, and therefore our ability to multiply productivity, suddenly vanishes today. Lets say our total population today is 10 billion. Out of this only 10%, or 1 billion humans, produce food, the rest just consume it. Lets just say that without oil and its products, each human can only produce enough food for himself and 2 other people. Therefore, these 1 billion food producers can only sustain another 2 billion people, and the remaining 7 billion can only starve.

But what about alternative forms of energy, such as wind, sunlight and nuclear power? The fact is, it’ll take decasdes to produce enough energy alternatives to sustain today’s population. Yet, if we wait till too late, we may not even have enough energy left to drive the industrial capacity needed to produce alternative power plants. And what about alternatives to materials such as pesticides, plastics and fertiliser? If the scientists are right, we have till around 2100 before oil practically vanishes. Are we doing enough now to protect ourselves when change comes, or are we simply blinded to the very idea of the coming change because we are too busy enjoying today’s surplus energy?

Kill a Foetus, Go to School

Today, in a travesty of justice, a man in Malacca was sentenced to only 2 years in reform school for killing his child. Let’s look at the facts, as reported. He was 17 years and 10 months old at the time of the offence. He had been dating a girl for 3 years. When she informed him of her pregnancy, he had sex with her, then stabbed her in the stomach in an attempt to kill the foetus. When the sentence was handed down, he and his parents appeared shocked at its severity. A probation officer had recommended the offender only be given a fine or placed on a good behaviour bond.

So here is a murderer, saved from years in prison only by the fact that he was still technically only a minor, who appears to show no remorse and is actually shocked that he couldn’t just pay some money and go on living his life as usual. Are lives in this country really so cheap?

If this society were just, the public prosecutor would have fought to have the offender tried as an adult. The judge would have agreed, and given the offender the far tougher sentence he so richly deserves. Then, the victim would at least have the comfort of knowing that the murderer of her child will not see the outside of a prison wall for at least the next few years. It would also send a clear message to society – if you disregard our lives, we will disregard yours.

Refugee Visit

Last Sunday, I visited a group of Kachin asylum seekers / refugees at their flat along Jalan Bukit Bintang. While conditions there weren’t very poor, say to the extent of being cockroach infested or full of drug addicts, it was no less saddening. Here were 7 people forced out of their homelands, living in a tiny flat in a country which tolerates them but largely couldn’t care less. With their situations representative of 40,000 other refugees in Malaysia alone, the sheer amount of wasted human potential alone is staggering. Most of them want to lead productive lives, contribute to society and raise a family. Instead, they are abused by unscrupulous employers, face assaults by other migrant groups, are avoided by the general population… the list goes on.

According to the UNHCR representative with us, one of the biggest problems faced by refugees in Malaysia is depression. To begin with, they face a wary populace, which views them as uneducated, uncivilised job stealers. Most new arrivals fear even leaving their safe houses, due to the hostility and language and cultural barriers. But adjusting to culture shock and bigotry is just a small part of their worries.

Refugees in Malaysia have absolutely no legal status and protection. The only recognition they can receive is a UNHCR card, which can be shown to police to avoid being arrested for illegal immigration. But it takes months, at minimum, for a refugee to receive the card. Even then, because a UNHCR card is only quasi legal, employees remain wary of hiring refugees. Aside from the persecution suffered in their own countries, they now don’t even have the right to earn an independent living. Even when they are hired, there is always the danger of unscrupulous employers. The women are generally paid higher wages than the men, whose employers may demand sexual favours.

With nobody to protect them or redress their grievances – not politicians or the police, and certainly not their own governments, and no chance of rebuilding their lives, is it any surprise that some of them turn to crime or prostitution? It is disgraceful for any society to marginalise the victimised, and then further persecute them when they are forced to take extraordinary measures to survive.