Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Tory's Christmas Recipe to Eradicate Poverty

Today The Guardian published their view on measuring poverty. "The UK government is redefining who counts as poor, which is easier than fixing a problem that is especially stark at this time of year." (http://gu.com/p/4fan8?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)

Now this is the tory's best solution to eradicate poverty: redifine poverty! Happily ever after for the twats in power.... 

My message to all Economic and social-politics students: never forget that the Conservative changed the definition of child poverty instead of addressing and tackling it in a humane way...! Never ever forget this fact!

The next step is that they manipulate the media. It's called agenda setting for those studying communication/PR, by the way. Then shift the focus to unemployment, making it looks like being poor = being lazy. 

Next step, cut university grants so that the poor have no chance to get higher education and no chance to get a better paying job. And of course eventually, they will cut tax credit so those on minimum wage can not feed their children without working 100hours a week (like those sweat shops in Bangladesh / Vietnam / India / Tangerang Indonesia).

After all these steps, leave everything simmer for a few years. By 2020 when Labour gets back to power, there will be no poor people left in the UK. Why? because they all will be dead. Genocided. Eradicated by their own government. 

And that, my dear young friends in universities, is the tory christmas recipe to eradicate poverty. There is another name for it that no one likes to mention anymore: neo-liberalism. Or your friends in Theology might simply call it: evil. Bah humbag!


Saturday, November 21, 2015

Geese are NOT a problem, human IS

Today I received an electronic newsletter from the citizen forum where I live. Among other things, there is a survey on "are geese a problem?". Apparently someone moan on the last resident meetings about (Canada) geese population and  how their droppings are making a mess on the footpath. 

I immediately did the survey and put forward my opinion that is: "No, geese are not problems, human and their greed ARE the problem on Earth. Leave the geese alone, share this planet with others and stop moaning!"

Here is another example of our destructive way of living. We already evicted millions of wild animals into the brink of extinction. A few geese in the city is a blessing! 

So I had to reply to all mailing list recipient, and below is my reply...



--------
Dear all,

I hope we will not waste the council's time and resources on geese. They are what's left of nature in city centre, and killing them is not only a big sin but also a waste of time, money, energy. We human and our greed ARE the biggest problem on Earth. It has been us modern human who are polluting and destroying the planet and our own environment, not geese, not fox, not badger, not rat, not slugs and God knows what else we're going to blame.

If geese droppings are on our footpath, walk more careful. Human have been dropping chewing gums much more than geese having a poo on our way.

If there is anything we need to review and seriously look at is our consumeristic behaviour. How much food we waste every day? Can we buy less and share more with those in needs? Can we be more positive and compassionate - share what we have with those in needs, live alongside and appreciate nature, and be less selfish? 

Less selfish, share more, appreciate nature, DO NOT KILL.... That should be our Christmas and New Year resolution. We see enough blood and misery, we don't need to slaughter geese just to be more comfortable in our own way of destroying this planet.

Peace be with you all...

Adeline Cooke
Castlefield resident


Monday, November 16, 2015

Famous Five for Mature Adults

Famous Five for Mature Adults

Review of Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg's The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules



Growing up reading Famous Five and imagining about the adventure awaiting me in teenage year, I am now imagining about the adventures await me in my 70s...! Well of course old ladies are allowed to be crazy and adventurous. After all, we've given birth, raised our children, and juggle work-family-studies all our adult life. So here's the book that makes me cheerful growing old and proud of my few grey hairs. Seriously, this is THE Christmas present you want to buy for your parents or grandparents. Older people should not let the care home serve them rubbish food. Still, at the end of the day, you must not forget to be kind to others, remember that!

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Letter to Jeremy Corbyn on women-only carriages

On women-only carriages


Dear Mr. Corbyn,

As one of your suporters and as a woman, please let me give you my feedback on your idea above. In a short sentence, my feedback about women-only carriages is, "Forget it!"

The idea to make public transport safer for women is noble and I appreciate it. The same strategy is being used in Indonesia - the country where I grew up - and it works well today. It would not work here. (http://gu.com/p/4bzfb?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)

Why? Because in Indonesia, it is still common and considered alright for a pervert to grab a woman's breast or buttocks in public. Believe me I grew up there, and the first lesson my father gave me in my puberty year was how to defend myself against perverts, how to use my knee as a weapon etc - I spare you the rest of the details.

The UK today is much better than that. Yes there are still sexual harassments and abuse, but not as blatant. Women here are also more aware of their rights. We do not need protection in the form of separate carriages like in Indonesia. Within 10 years of living in the UK, I never needed to use my knee as a weapon of self defense or walk with my hands folded to prevent any pervert to grab my breast. 

I believe that women in the UK today are powerful enough to prevent and to report harassments if it happened. I deeply moved by your brotherly gesture to protect us women, but I think we are good in this area. 

Maybe what we need is a more aware and sensitive or empathic police force, so that victims - regarsless of their genders - feel safe to report crimes and later to testify. We learn from historic sexual abuse cases how the law enforcement dismissed victims' evidence and how some women suffered! We need to make sure that our law enforcement understand how it feels to be a target or to be victimised. 

Empathy should be taught and discussed in training courses for public servants. The stiff upper lip bureaucrats need to learn how to make a crying woman feel accepted. Feeling is not a sin! Now this, would be a positive change that we women need from you. 

That is my feedback for you. I hope you will become the leader of Labour and in 2020, Prime Minister. My motherly instinct says that you do care. Thank you


------

Here is the email reply that I received not long after my letter:

Hi Adeline, 

Thank you for your email regarding women only carriages.

 

Jeremy was approached by members of the public, campaigns and organisations with the idea and has decided to open it up for wider discussion. Women only carriages is not a policy proposal, as the media are reporting today, but simply something Jeremy is willing to explore due to demand. 


I recommend having a look at the policies on ending street harassment that Jeremy is outlining here: http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/end_street_harassment. Policies include but are not limited to a 24/7 police hotline for sexual harassment and assault, more rigorous legislation for licence holders when harassment occurs on their premises and comprehensive advertising campaigns. 

 

Thank you for your input, it is exactly what Jeremy was hoping to receive and I will now feed it into our policy making process. 

 

Thank you again for taking the time to get in touch. 


Kind regards,

Team Jeremy


Thursday, July 30, 2015

Are immigrants in Calais not human???!

On Wednesday (29/7/15) during his tour of South East Asia David Cameron said he sympathised with holidaymakers stuck in Calais due to the disturbances (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33699141).

"A swarm" that was what the PM of a free world called human beings running away from persecution (http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/7901450). Disturbances. Immigrants problem. Did he mean some desperate asylum seekers trying to get into any vehicle - even endangering their own lives - that caused a huge traffic jam for tourist going from Britain to France and vice versa? 

So there are two groups of humans here: holidaymakers, and immigrants/asylum seekers. One group are going on holiday, to have fun and spend some money. The other group are desperate to find a place to live. To live, to avoid death, to flee being killed.

And David Cameron the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, said that he has every sympathy with the holidaymakers.

I thought my old ears were hearing things instead of the news on the radio. But I was not hearing things. I heard what the PM said: sympathised with the holidaymakers.

The rage in my head! I wish to scream at him: 
What about the immigrants who have been travelling through hostile countries, storm in the sea, being abused and raped on their journey to runaway from war? Are they not deserving sympathy? Are they less human than holidaymakers? Why? Are they less human because they were not born in Europe? Have we forgotten the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? 

I despair. We are living in a twisted world where news about a lion receives more reaction than dying humans (http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/7894342)



Sunday, July 5, 2015

Luwak Coffee? It's not worth buying the faeces of tortured animals

We human like to venture out and try on new things. Once the novelty is popularised on the mass media and sold as 'exotic' in big department store in a capital city of a developed country, the thing became a hit. Celebrities tried and endorse it, and everyone in the developing countries want to produce it.

Even though the thung is shit. Literally, faeces of a shy nocturnal animal from South East Asia, has become a big hit in London. 'Kopi Luwak' or Luwak coffee came from the faeces of civets (in Indonesian: Luwak, or its Latin name: Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

In its natural habitats, the rain forests of Indonesia, they eat and cofee beans - either wild coffee plants or steal some from plantations. Human collected their droppings, and found that the coffee is nicer after being digested by the civets. So the original coffee luwak was discovered. Today, the coffee luwak sold in London's famous Harods department store with  ridiculously expensive price, does not come from civets living happilly in their natural habitat. Today there are luwak farms all over Indonesia, both producing luwak coffee and marketed as tourist destinations. 
(Photo from www.kuncitips.com)

Now here's the news: the civets living in cages are not happy at all. While their natural diet consist of but not exclusively coffee beans, in their cages in luwak farms they are forced to eat coffee and coffee only! Here is an article in Indonesian exposing their living condition in farms (http://www.kuncitips.com/2015/05/kisah-tragis-di-balik-nikmatnya-kopi.html?m=1). Not a pleasant live at all. Even the person who introduced Luwak coffee to the UK is now campaigning against farmed Luwak coffee.... http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/sep/13/civet-coffee-cut-the-crap

Personally, I never wanted to try luwak coffee because it's an overpriced shit (literally coming from back end of the creature, right?). If anyone else wanted to spend lots of money on that, I did not care. But now that we know that the industry is hurting innocent civets.... Come on, wake up and let's campaign against this cruelty. My argument is: it's not worth buying the faeces of tortured animals.

We consumers have the power to boicott and spread the words to boicott this ill treatment of fellow Earth dwellings. So please save your money and save these lovely shy creature by not buying the shit luwak coffee... Want is different than need. We do not need to have faeces coffee. There are many other delcious coffees produced and sold in fair trade system, choose them instead.

PETA has a good article on this. Disturbing report by their investigator http://www.peta.org.uk/blog/civet-coffee-a-sip-of-cruelty/

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The Law of The Sea According to Acehnese Fishermen

Acehnese fishermen's 'Law of the Sea' (Hukom Adat Laot) stated that seaman who sees any boat in distress should offer help. As a loval fisherman explained to Al Jazeera news, "At sea you are all brothers and sisters, foreigners or Indonesians. So if someone is asking for help, we as fishermen have an obligation to help without looking at race, religion or anything."

I sense a similarity in principle with the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The strange thing is that these fishermen had never studied UN Conventions and might have never heard of the Declaration og Human Rights. On the other hand, countries who had ratified the UN Convention for Refugee and claimed to adhere to Human Rights principles are turning these human down! 

The worrying thing is that the so called law enforcements are questioning fishermen who helped the immigrants. Indonesian Armed Forces reminded Acehnese fishermen that that taking in illegal immigrant is against the law. 

I hope that the brave Acehnese fisherman will stand up for human rights and will not let authority in uniform stop them helping fellow human. 

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Petitioning President Jokowi to Accept Rohingya Refugee


Dear Mr President, 

please open your heart to our fellow human who are suffering. 

Remember your speech on the opening of Asian African Conference last month? You said Indonesia is ready to take the lead in social justice. You said we cannot continue to rely on the so called developed/first world/North (rich) countries... 

Well this is the time to put your words into action. Please open our shore for the suffering asylum seekers. 

Acehnese fishermen who were poor and once displaced themselves had started to show compassion, why can't we as a nation do the right thing too? Our land is enough for sharing, our people though poor would still feed the hungry. In sharing we will become richer, our resources is enough to be shared, as long as we are not too greedy. 

Please open your heart and open our border, Mr Jokowi... 

Acehnese are No Stranger to Refugees


Between May 2003 - 2004 Indonesian government declared martial law inAceh province. Thousands of Acehnese had to evacuate their homes. IDP (internally displaced people) camps formed all over Aceh. On Boxing Day 2004, nine Richter scale earthquake hit Aceh, followed by 30 metre high wave - tsunami - that claimed about 200,000 souls. There were toddlers who were born in IDP camps during the martial law (2003) and stayed in tents long after the tsunami. Acehnese people are no stranger to displacement, to queueing for food, to unclean water, they survived diseases predicted by WHO and other international emergency aid organisations.



Today Acehnese people witness others in their shoes. Immigrants from Burma/Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya ethnic and from Bangladesh are arriving after months living on over-crowded boats. Thai governments refused them, Malaysian people looked away. Australian government quickly said "No!" American government pleaded mercy from South East Asian governments. Indonesia has not ratified UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee (the 1951 Refugee Convention).



But would Acehnese people turn their back on their fellow human in need? Did history mean anything to those who had lived in IDP camps? Thanks be to God that they don't! Alhamdulillah... Acehnese people open their heart and most took these asylum seekers in. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32747616

It seems that Acehnese people show their heart of gold to these Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma/Myanmar ( http://m.irinnews.org/report/83120/indonesia-aceh-embraces-rohingya-refugees#.VVfXpFKkrCQ ). God bless the poor and the marginalised.God bless asylum seekers and those who help them.


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Renungan Indonesian in England

BBC Indonesia mengadakan survey: di manakah Anda pada Mei 1998?

Berikut kenangan dan renungan saya, 17 tahun setelah kerusuhan 1998 dan jatuhnya diktator Soeharto.

Sebagai wartawan muda dan jebolan UI, saya hadir di Salemba. Tak lama orasi2 mulai, saya dapat tiga pesan di pager: dari kantor, dari suami, dan dari orang tua. Semua isinya sama: segera pulang, rumah Lim Sui Liong di Gunung Sahari akan dibakar (kami tinggal di Kemayoran, tak jauh dari istana pemilik Indofood dan kroni Soeharto tsb). Namun bis dan mikrolet tak ada. Jalan Salemba seperti kota hantu walau halaman UI penuh demonstran. Berjalan kakilah saya dari Salemba. Untung seorang pengendara motor berbaik hati memberi tumpangan hingga perempatan Jl Angkasa. Sampai rumah putra saya Jack Bara yang masih bayi menangis di gendongan ayahnya, surat-surat penting dan pakaian seadanya sudah di travel bag. Kami siap cabut jika api menjalar... Untung tak terjadi. 

Demokrasi Indonesia kini telah 17 tahun, masih remaja namun terbukti makin dewasa. Bangga sekali dengan pidato Presiden Jokowi di pembukaan KAA bulan lalu. Sementara pada saat yang sama negara Inggris Raya tempat lahirnya demokrasi moderen, negara asal John Locke dan Magna Carta, sedang mengalami kemunduran demokrasi. Pemerintah Konservatif berencana menghapus UU HAM (Human Right Act 1988), mengurangi anggaran kesehatan (NHS) dan melegalkan kembali perburuan rubah. Rakyat miskin kian tergantung sumbangan sembako dari foodbank sementara sahabat kaya para politisi menikmati pengurangan pajak. Indonesia, ayo pimpin keadilan sosial di dunia!



Friday, May 8, 2015

Celebration of Democracy? UK Election 2015





Dear UK citizens, I hope that those who could vote today, would have used voted and use your voices wisely. General election is the big celebration of democracy. People might not see it that way here in the UK. People might be fed up with lies told by politicians just before elections. Fed up with promises they could not - or would not intended to - keep. 


Still, elsewhere on Earth people are threatened by guns on their way to polling stations. Blood spilled, bomb exploded, innocent children killed. For democracy? For the right to choose one's own future? For politicians who are going to betray their people? Still, people around the world are longing to have a peaceful general election like today.

Aceh, March 2004, first democratic election in Indonesia since Soeharto regime. Was it democratic for Acehnese people? With big guns everywhere? "Vote for your life", Aceh, 2004 (http://youtu.be/WSdClPsFovc)


I remember my first general election in Indonesia, 1992. (I am now middle age, so I am allowed to say, "I remember...") There were three parties. In theory. Though for over 30 years only one party could win. My father begged me to vote for one party, "Or your father would have no job tomorrow." He was a civil servant then. All civil servants were members of one party, the one that had to win for 33 years. It was only two decades ago.


For goodness sake, British people today, you are lucky to be alive. To stay alive after voting. You are lucky to have the free choice. This is democracy. Like it or not, the b*****d in Number 10 was your choice. If tomorrow you have a prime minister who looks like that cartoon Wallace and Gromitt, he would still be the result of years of freedom to choose. Embrace it! Somewhere out there, people are dying to have a choice!


In Indonesia we call general election 'pesta demokrasi', the big celebration of democracy. I hope people in the UK today are celebrating.