When the tidak-apa-attitude meant a loss of a young life...

Justice for Gary Robert <--- Click here
On 2nd August 2009, one Gary Leon Robert went for a run, and never made it home.

What a tragedy, that a life, only 22 years of age was taken in such a crude and lackadaisical manner.

Just reading the article kills me. Clearly someone erred in the duties and Gary paid for it - with his life.

My heart goes out to Gary and his family, the cause of death was put down to severe dehydration, but it stills beggars belief that no one knows his whereabouts and was found at a remote tunnel. How could someone who has to be stretchered on arrival at the finish line go missing by himself? And this is an event organised by Adidas, impossible is nothing? You would assume an event organised by such a renowned would be well equiped and well planned out.

Clearly someone failed in discharging their duties and no one is owning up to it. May God bless your soul Gary.

When common sense got an upper hand against capitalist - Courts rule in favour of McCurry against McD!!!

A victory against unethical capitalist

As many of you know, I do not in any way like McD. I have not had a McD burger or fries in ages and I do not plan to have it in the near future.

Put it this way, McD are an unethical company not only in how they market themselves but also in disclosure of what is actually in their food.

Unethical Marketing Practices

They market to kids, with their Happy Meals and "free" latest kid-flicks toys. Untrue? I am pretty sure many of you have seen kids going "Mommy/Daddy I want toy!" at a McD counter.

The question now is, are they selling food or are they pressuring parents to give into the demands of their kids?

I for one feel that this is in no way ethical marketing. How can you be claim to be ethical when a choice of meal is influenced by the "free" toy it comes with and not the question if the meal is healthy or not.

Are McD fries vegetarian?

The second issue revolves around whether McD fries are actually vegetarian. Rumours were circling that McD includes beef fat in their oil to make their fries taste and smell better.

This is not a new issue, it was first raised in the 90's and after a huge public outcry, especially in India McD issued a statement saying that since 1990 they only use vegetable oil to fry their fries. How did they change their oil but still maintained the flavour of their fries? That's where their unethical practice came into play.

What McD did was to remove the beef fat from the oil and include it in the fries! Smart move? No, under immense pressure, they admitted to their underhand non-disclosure of the presence of beef tallow in their fries and they agreed to settle. Please click here for more details.

A victory for David?

Not quite. What's US$10 million to a mega-billion company like McD? PEANUTS!

On a personal note it just strengthens my resolve not to consume McD. It shows how unethical and bias Americans and their corporations can be, for as long as it doesn't hurt themselves they don't give a damn - even when they infringe on others' beliefs. America a liberal and free country? No. A country which respects others? Double NO NO!

I am Dhammarakkhita

Ben in a saffron robe

Suprise suprise. To those who wondered where I disappeared for 2 weeks in December, here's my confession.

I gave up my identity, assumed a new name and lived a life of abstinence for 2 weeks.

Yes, that is indeed Benjamin Lai (and Amy Lai, my sister who paid me a visit).

Shocking to some, but yes, I fulfilled my vow to spend some time in a monastery, a vow which I made when I was 19.

It was a long time coming and I have been putting it off for quite some time because there was just no opening in my life which allowed me to do so. I finally got my chance when I resigned from my job and pretty much had plenty of time in my hand.

I applied and was accepted into the Brickfields Buddhist Mahavihara Novitiate Programme and it was indeed something which I should have done much sooner than later.

Why?

Sometime way back when I was 19, I cheated death.

Some might say what transpired is open to interpretation, but whether it is an act of God, destiny, Karma or just pure coincidence, the one thing that I am very thankful for is that no one was hurt.

Back to the story, it was all the annual all night chanting event at the Seck Kia Eenh Temple, Malacca. Back then I was pretty much part of most major events held at the temple and a regular at the weekly Sunday morning puja session.

Life was much more laid back then and much more less complicated but it still could spring surprises.

I was asked to carry the flag for the walk around the temple ground before the chanting session started. It took me by surprise. Although I was a regular at the temple, I was quite anonymous, I do mingle around, but I am not too involved in any material capacity. A sleeping member? Pretty much so, until that faithful day that is.

Everything went well, and I was at the temple until approximately 11 p.m. and then I headed out to meet a few friends for a drink. That went well too, a few drinks, lots of laugh and as with any Malaysian after a late night outing, we decided to get some food.

We left in 3 different cars - myself, a friend of mine and an outstation friend of my friend. Somehow in the calm silence of the night I noticed a "thumb-down" gesture from someone in a car which I recognise as the the one driven by the "outstation friend".

Ego took over, the race is on and from thereon it is winning the race and nothing else mattered. I was bang on leading the "race" and the conclusion was no where soon on the horizon. Halfway through, one of my passenger, one Mr. P, told me to slow down, he felt uneasy and he asked me to let the car I was racing through. Uncharacteristically I took his advice and his uneasiness was proven true.

Right before my eyes, the car I was racing lost control, swerved and avoided an oncoming car, spun three times, smashed head-on into a lamp post, split a roadside barrier into half, sending one half tumbling 10 feet into the storm drain beside it and finally rested above the remaining half of the barrier.

In that short moment, when I realised what I had just caused, still not knowing the fate of the 4 occupants of the other car, I made a pledge to spend some time in a monastery.

I realised that had I not taken Mr. P's advice it would have been me in that crash, not the car I raced.

Thanks for the advice Mr. P.

As I rushed over to the mangled wreck, I could just pray that no one was killed or seriously injured. Guilt would kill me if anything was to happen to them, it was a huge relief to find out that for my stupid actions no one was seriously injured - the occupants in the wrangled car was safe, the only injury was a small cut to the forehead of the front passenger. 4 lives could have been lost and even more if the driver did not swerve and avoided the oncoming car, a moment where life and death was separated by such a fine margin.

A life changing experience

For the first time in my life, I felt calm, I could close my eyes and see nothing, just plain calmness, such the realisation that no life was lost. The same feeling that I felt when I was in the monastery, it felt really good leaving the worldly temptations behind and the pure sense of detachment from the world - knowing that I was doing no evil or contributing to the worse of the world.

It took quite an event to jolt me into realising how precarious life could be and that it all could have been so different on that not so eventful night.

An act of God, destiny, Karma or just pure coincidence...