Give Them A Break For Goodness Sake

Art by Lee Yew Kong

I may not have a domestic worker. I don't need them for now. I won't say I don't need them in the future. Surely there's a place for this kind of job. Many people won't be able to go about in their daily lives without the help of domestic workers. We need them as much as they need us. We need help in running our round the clock working life style. They need us to feed their poor families back home. This should be a good arrangement. We need each other. But the truth is not that simple. Human beings are evil. Our core is as rotten as a cess pool. Our outside may look prim and proper but given the opportunity that rotten innards will not resist to leak out. That's what I saw with the recent domestic workers day off issue. More than 70% of Malaysians that participated in the recent sms poll by The Star voted against giving domestic workers their well deserved rest day. This is nothing but pure shame to us all. And to top it all up, the Indonesian government is freezing all future domestic workers from coming in until we clear up this issue. One of the biggest complain is abuse. What's wrong with us Malaysians?! I thought things like this only happen in the past when slavery was commonplace. Looks like some habits die hard. May be it's in our genes. The domestic workers are humans too. If we think we deserve day off, why not them. Are we better than they? Let us start being human by showing respect and compassion to them. Don't let money corrupt us by thinking that just because we pay RMxxxx we own the domestic workers we hire. They are workers not slaves. So stop treating like they are our slaves. I know there are many things to consider and we need laws to protect the employers too. I'll leave that to other more qualified people to deal with. This blog post is to plead to the better side of our humanity. Please give them a break for goodness sake.

Figures Before Dawn

Lonely forms passing the other,

Separated by the darkness between,

Let not the Light draw us together,

Lesser light will do,

while we mind our business.

Click here to view the photo essay. I've recently refurbished my website and added three new photo essays. One of which I've just showcased in my blog not too long ago. Some of you may be wondering why I've taken down my wedding portfolio. The reason is because I want to be more focus in terms of the presentation of my website. I'll still be shooting some wedding but that will not be my main focus in terms of photographic interest and direction.

How Much Are We Willing To Sacrifice For Respecting Others?

Today I had the chance to hear Vinoth Ramachandra in person. He spoke in University Malaya on the topic Respecting Persons In A Pluralist Society. He touched on many things. Most are too long to be discussed on this post. A few things he highlighted struck me. One of it is people living in a pluralist society like Malaysia need to make sacrifices in order for respect to take place. He's not saying about sacrifices like dying for another person but simple everyday things that had already made many tick with anger or contempt. Recently there is the big fuss by PAS demanding for the ban of Sisters in Islam (SIS). Such arrogance is a classic case of not making the sacrifice in regards to respecting others in the society. We may disagree with others in the society in terms of belief, philosophy and etc. but are we willing to sacrifice our arrogance. To demand that others must adhere to what we believe and not being given the option to decide for themselves is definitely not the way. This is such a simple truth. Yet so many of us are not able to understand and practice it. The very fact that God gave us free will tells us that He doesn't intent to coerce us into submission but rather prefers willing decisions made by our own hearts and minds. Somehow there are still many others that are bend on doing everything in their power to destroy this very essence on being human. He also mentioned that there is much value in our diversity. The value of our humanity is in the value we put on other fellow human beings. Let us start by asking ourselves how much am I willing to sacrifice for respecting others?

insig.ht

insig.ht is both quick take and deep dive into the means of making photographs. It’s personal vision, from the inside out; a new, collective way of seeing that’s immediate, original and global.
Our goal is to present photographic issues, problems, successes, and even failures in a way that brings transparency to what’s traditionally been a mysterious and secretive medium. We’ll share what we’ve tried, what’s worked, what hasn’t, what amazes, what’s new, and what’s fluff. Go to website.

ROUTINE

'Routine' is a study of the daily activities of the human lives. We are creatures of habit. Our habits, beneficial or destructive are often unaware to us. The cycle is consistent and not easily broken. It may be possible to sum up our lives as a compilation of habits strung together by routines.