Mindless idea (I'm sure there are lots more to come)
I couldn't resist the temptation to check the dictionary. In the Collins Concise Dictionary Plus, "mindless" means: 1. stupid or careless; 2. requiring little or no intellectual effort.
Well, on both counts, I think the idea to have an orientation course for employers to curb maid abuse must be one of the most mindless things I've heard about in recent days. (Check out this news article: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/24/nation/8049914&sec=nation)
Before anyone gets me wrong, I do agree that maid abuse is a horrible thing to do, and I also believe that the people who abuse their maids have some crazy and/or bad attitude towards their maids (especially foreign ones).
However, that doesn't mean an orientation course will solve the problem at hand.
This mindless idea is objectionable on so many levels. Whether we look at it from a practical angle or an intellectual one, it's unfeasible and not very wise.
First of all, I wonder how would one implement this idea. And even if we could, is the time, effort and cost really worth it? Moreover, how sure are we that this orientation course will actually achieve whatever it is that the people behind this idea is trying to do?
With the track record of the National Service in Malaysia, I suspect it wouldn't turn out very well. Whether we believe it or not, we cannot make abusive people nice and decent by sending them to an orientation course - just as we can't create responsible and patriotic adults out of the youth that attend some three-month course.
On a more philosophical level, I reckon that the bad idea is a good reflection of how depraved we have become as a society.
If I am not mistaken, and if Plato was reporting accurately, Socrates once asked Phaedrus, "And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good - need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"
Now, do we need people to tell us that it is bad and unacceptable to abuse maids, or anyone for that matter? Do we need others to point out to us that foreign workers are also human beings just like us, wishing to make a decent living and support their family?
If you think about it, the fact that we need to create all sorts of laws and rules to keep people away from their own children, their friends, their colleagues and/or their maids, really shows how morally bankrupt we are.
This leads me to the my next blog...
Well, on both counts, I think the idea to have an orientation course for employers to curb maid abuse must be one of the most mindless things I've heard about in recent days. (Check out this news article: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/24/nation/8049914&sec=nation)
Before anyone gets me wrong, I do agree that maid abuse is a horrible thing to do, and I also believe that the people who abuse their maids have some crazy and/or bad attitude towards their maids (especially foreign ones).
However, that doesn't mean an orientation course will solve the problem at hand.
This mindless idea is objectionable on so many levels. Whether we look at it from a practical angle or an intellectual one, it's unfeasible and not very wise.
First of all, I wonder how would one implement this idea. And even if we could, is the time, effort and cost really worth it? Moreover, how sure are we that this orientation course will actually achieve whatever it is that the people behind this idea is trying to do?
With the track record of the National Service in Malaysia, I suspect it wouldn't turn out very well. Whether we believe it or not, we cannot make abusive people nice and decent by sending them to an orientation course - just as we can't create responsible and patriotic adults out of the youth that attend some three-month course.
On a more philosophical level, I reckon that the bad idea is a good reflection of how depraved we have become as a society.
If I am not mistaken, and if Plato was reporting accurately, Socrates once asked Phaedrus, "And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good - need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"
Now, do we need people to tell us that it is bad and unacceptable to abuse maids, or anyone for that matter? Do we need others to point out to us that foreign workers are also human beings just like us, wishing to make a decent living and support their family?
If you think about it, the fact that we need to create all sorts of laws and rules to keep people away from their own children, their friends, their colleagues and/or their maids, really shows how morally bankrupt we are.
This leads me to the my next blog...
posted by Malaysian X at 7:25 AM
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