Olympic Torch Relay: Hey China, what about Singapore?

Malaysia prepared for torch run (BBC News 21 April 08)

The Olympic torch is due to make its way through the streets of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, the latest leg of a worldwide relay.

Malaysian officials said they were not expecting any protests.

The torch drew high-profile demonstrations from pro-Tibet activists as it passed through cities such as London, Paris and San Francisco.

However, it also made peaceful progress through cities including Bangkok in Thailand and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Landmark route

Monday's 16km (9.9 mile) torch relay route will take the Olympic symbol past some of Kuala Lumpur's landmarks, finishing at Malaysia's iconic Petronas Twin Towers.

Some 1,000 policemen and commandos will be posted along the route, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The torch will then travel from Kuala Lumpur to the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Monday night.

Protests in London and Paris - where demonstrators angry at Chinese occupation of Tibet tried to disrupt the relay - have created headlines across the world.

During the latest leg of the relay, in Bangkok, more than 2,000 police guarded the torch, and barricades were set up along parts of the 10km route.

Hundreds of anti-China protesters were faced by Beijing supporters, but there was no major disruption.

Meanwhile, China has urged its citizens to be calm amid further anti-Western protests in the country, focused on French supermarket chain Carrefour.

The protesters have been angered by disruption of the torch relay.

My comments

Hi Friends,

Has anyone noticed anything amiss here?

The sacred Olympic torch which was carried from Mt Olympus through Europe, went to the Americas and was then brought through Asia. In the past few days, it went through India, Thailand and will pass through Malaysia today and will then go to … Indonesia etc and beyond.

Any primary school student will tell you that Singapore lies in between Malaysia and Indonesia. But the torch relay will inexplicably bypass Singapore completely! It seems almost intentional!

Rumour has it that when the itinerary for the relay was planned, Lee Hsien Loong was involved in the contentious trip to Taipei. It incensed Beijing so much that we were left out of the relay to show us who the boss was. Anyone can confirm this?

It must be psychologically bruising for our rulers to be publicly humiliated by China like this. And to think that we stood up like a sore thumb defending China’s honour at this time, the hour of their need. How ironic!

Let me put on record that I feel that Beijing deserves to be the host of the Olympics and that mixing of politics with sports is not desirable and “not cricket”. I also personally sense that many “mainly Western” interest groups directly or indirectly appear to take advantage of the publicity to make China look bad.

But from Beijing’s action of excluding Singapore from the momentous relay, China is signalling to us that we are very insignificant and small. Notwithstanding our support for her policies in the past, we are as good as “peanuts” to them!

Such is the reality of life.

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan

Route of the Olympic torch relay for the Beijing Games:
March 24-29: Greece.
March 31: Beijing.
April 2: Almaty, Kazakhstan.
April 3: Istanbul, Turkey.
April 5: St. Petersburg, Russia.
April 6: London.
April 7: Paris.
April 9: San Francisco.
April 11: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
April 13: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
April 14: Muscat, Oman.
April 16: Islamabad, Pakistan.
April 17: New Delhi, India.
April 19: Bangkok, Thailand.
April 21: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
April 22: Jakarta, Indonesia.
April 24: Canberra, Australia.
April 26: Nagano, Japan.
April 27: Seoul, South Korea.
April 28: Pyongyang, North Korea.
April 29: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
May 2: Hong Kong.
May 3: Macao.
May 4-10: Enters Chinese provinces, including at one point, a trip up Mount Everest from the Tibet side.
May 20-21 Shanghai.
Aug. 6: Beijing.
Aug. 8: Start of Olympics.
Official Web site of the torch relay: http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/index.shtml
Detailed list: http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/journey/calendar/index.shtml

Waiter, this food tastes like paper!

Hi Friends,

I used to think that fellows who complained about their food were just overly fussy.

Being from a frugal family, I had been taught by my parents to eat whatever was laid on the table for if I did not, the rumour was that I would be punished with a pock-marked wife. I have insisted that my kids do the same. Till now, that is.

Now it turns out that whenever someone complains that the food tastes like paper, or “dung” or that the meat is a tad soggy, he may be literally meaning just that. Especially if the food is from China.

Card board “buns” are just the latest in the list of horrific stories coming out from this the newest and most-feared economic power. We already know about the slaves.

About the “dung”…in the last few weeks, farmers were found to have force-fed pigs with waste-water just before they were led to the slaughter at the abattoir. This last meal before their “execution” were to increase their weight which would ultimately translate to increased profits for the farmers.

In yet another case, water was injected into pigs’ carcasses (also to increase literally the “deadweight”).

If you are skeptical of these reports ( as I was) and attribute them to China’s economic rivals trying to sully her reputation in order to slow her economic progress, think again!

There is no smoke without fire!

Might not this be the end-result of crass materialism? If the almighty dollar is the “be all and end all” of our lives , I fear that we are not far behind China in becoming a soul-less society where “dog eat dog” and anything ( and I mean anything) is permissible so long as it helps us climb up the economic food chain!

Xiao Long Pao anyone?

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan

Chinese food 'made from cardboard'
(CNN 12 July 07)

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver.

Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.

Modern Slavery: An Inconvenient Truth

Hi Friends,

Having been impressed (I think with some justifications) with China’s economic progress, I am mildly surprised and disappointed with the discovery of slaves in China.

This is a serious setback for China’s attempt to be accepted as a respected member of the world community.

Even a successful Beijing Olympics 2008 would not help much in projecting China as a modern and progressive nation if she does not get her own house in order.

Corruption and collusion amongst its local authorities must have been rife for such blatant forms of slavery to be possible.

I am interested to see her corrective actions and what happens to these slave-owners and their corrupt friends.

A.Slavery in China

China 'will catch slave owners' (BBC News)

China has pledged to bring to justice traffickers who enslaved hundreds of children and adults to work in brick kilns in two provinces.

As it prepared to send investigators to Henan and Shanxi, the government said that all captives would be freed.

Some 550 people have been liberated in recent weeks and families believe up to 1,000 children were enslaved.

The story made national headlines after parents of some of them launched an internet campaign for their freedom.

Children thought to be as young as eight years old were kidnapped, held captive and forced to work long hours for no pay.

The case has revealed the dark side of China's booming economy with forced labour and human trafficking common in rural areas, the BBC's Dan Griffiths reports from Beijing.

'All-out' search

Responding to calls for action by President Hu Jintao and other senior top politicians, the labour and social security ministry vowed to send a team of investigators to the two provinces.

"The team will find out the truth as soon as possible, and we will go all out to rescue the workers who have been forced to work as slaves in the brick kilns," a deputy minister, Sun Baoshu, was quoted as saying by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

"The criminal offenders will be dealt with to safeguard the legal interests of the workers."

Thousands of police have been checking building sites in the two provinces and have made scores of arrests, Chinese media report.

Provincial authorities in Shanxi have also said they will punish officials for dereliction of duty unless all abused workers are freed within 10 days.
'Jail-like'

The wife of one kiln-owner arrested by police said that officials had previously done nothing about the kilns other than ask for money from her husband.

"The officials said that we were illegal and so they came for money but they didn't do any more than that," Zhang Mei told Reuters news agency in Hongtong, Shanxi.

She also blamed a Hongtong foreman, Heng Tinghan, who had allegedly found workers and controlled them directly and is now wanted by police.

"We really didn't know they weren't getting money," Mrs Zhang said.
State TV reports prison-like conditions in the kilns where slaves were controlled with beatings or fierce dogs.

Some young male workers were shown to have festering wounds on their feet and waists, possibly from being burnt by the kilns where they worked.

Many labourers were reportedly abducted off the streets of regional towns and sold on for as little as 500 yuan ($66, £33), the AFP news agency reports, quoting Chinese press.

B.Modern Slavery around the world

Most of us probably suspect that slavery still prevails in this day and age but we just want to block it out of our conscious thoughts.

It is an inconvenient truth.

Anyway, what can we do about it even if we know it exists?

Even Archbishop Desmond Tutu had the same problem as all of us when he said in Hull, UK, in 1999 ,

"Slavery...I didn't know about all these forms that existed. I think it's largely because wearen't expecting it. It is hidden.Generally people would not believe that it is possible under modern conditions. They would say 'No, I think youare making it all up', because it's just too incredible..."

Article 4, Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly probihits slavery. The article says:

"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slaveryand the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."

As you and I know, it will be a long time before UN’s declarations are able to protect the helpless and vulnerable in remote areas of Africa and South America. If the national authorities in these regions are inept or in collusion with exploiters of human labour, these lofty UN legal documents are worth “squat” to these slaves.

They will continue to be beaten, abused and killed, mostly without the knowledge of anyone else.

God is their only witness.

Please go to Anti-slavery.org’s websites for more information on how humans continue with depraved acts and cruel behaviour despite so many thousand years of “so-called” civilization.

I will just highlight the section below ( from the website) and you can read the rest yourself.

What is modern slavery?

For many people, the image that comes to mind when they hear the word slavery is the slavery of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We think of the buying and selling of people, their shipment from one continent to another and the abolition of the trade in the early 1800s. Even if we know nothing about the slave trade, it is something we think of as part of our history rather than our present. But the reality is slavery continues TODAY.

Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'.

Slavery exists today despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practised. It is also prohibited by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Women from eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.

What is slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;

owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;

dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';

physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

What types of slavery exist today?

Bonded labour: affects millions of people around the world. People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. To repay the debt, many are forced to work long hours, seven days a week, up to 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter as 'payment' for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down for generations.

Early and forced marriage: affects women and girls who are married without choice and are forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence.

Forced labour: affects people who are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work -- usually under threat of violence or other penalties.

Slavery by descent: is where people are either born into a slave class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labour.

Trafficking: involves the transport and/or trade of people -- women, children and men -- from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into slavery conditions.

Worst forms of child labour: affects an estimated 126 million** children around the world in work that is harmful to their health and welfare.

Dr. Huang Shoou Chyuan