印度贱民

逛书展时，看到了中文版的《国家地理》，那是一本2002年的杂志，而主题是报道印度的贱民生活。 早前，读到关于印度突然有着很多的贱民集体改变宗教信仰，突然撩起了我对这班占了16%强人口的兴趣。
“印度10多万贱民本月弃信印度教”
读了该本国家地理，才知道这个该死的种姓制度的严重性， 虽然印度政府在很早以前就废除了这个制度，可是毕竟是经过了几千年的陋习，要连根拔起，可真不容易。 在兴都教里，它把人们分为四个特级： 婆罗门（僧侣贵族）Brahmans、刹帝利（军事和行政贵族）Kshatriyas、吠舍（商人）Vaisyas和首陀罗Sudras（被征服的奴隶。 或许你会问，eee，那么贱民是在什么等级？ 很遗憾的，他们被归类成“第五类”（别人称呼而已，他们的社会不当他们是人），他们是“不可被触碰的人”achuta 还有更甚者，较高种姓的人会觉得如果“看见”他们，是件很倒霉的事情！ 贱民打从出生就已经被注定了职业，好像有些就是洗衣服的，有些是通沟渠，有些是收拾尸体，有些专门洗牛皮。 要有一种贱民，给女的，她们是“配种”的！！！ 这些贱民处处受到歧视，贱民儿童在学校就被欺负，被高种姓莫名其妙的臭打； 长大了，也是被欺负，职业被定了，什么都是不人道的招待。 在国家地理，有一个生来是通沟渠的，在完成了他一天的工作后，想人讨水洗手，都没人要理他。 这些贱民，要讨水喝的话，高种姓是不会盛在杯里递给他们的，而是倒在他们的手中，因为这样没有触碰到贱民！ 虽然说印度政府废除了种姓制度超过了五十年，但是，上有政策，下有对策，民间还是同样的对待贱民。 有些不事生产的高种姓宁愿当乞丐，也不愿意当清道夫，堂堂正正的赚钱自己养活自己，就只因为那些都是贱民的工作! 贱民唯一的出路就是改变宗教信仰。 是谁订立那些烂教条的？为什么贱民要跟从？ 为啥贱民就是贱民？为啥婆罗门不能是低等的人？ 当年那些烂圣侣是凭什么把人那样的分等级？ 为啥占了那么大比率的贱民不会反这些烂圣侣？ 有着很多很多的为什么在我的心中，不能一一细详。 下列一些url给大家有兴趣再多了解印度贱民的不幸： 印度贱民生活大写真（国家地理原文） 采访印度贱民区 贱民之贱嗖嗖 一个印度贱民的奋斗史 贱民领袖的网页

Dubai 杜拜

今天打算去Mines的中文书展，可是太多人赴会了，导致我们的汽车没法进入停车场，被迫节目腰折，转去South City。 大众又带来了惊喜，我看到了一本书名很吸引，设计很醒目的-《前进杜拜》 由于它是台湾进口的，加上全彩色，一本要价四十多元呢！幸好大众有折扣20巴仙。 正如书本上说的，五年前，如果你问人们：“你知不知道Dubai?”，相信没多少人会说是。 我认识杜拜，也是透过朋友互传的电邮，当时那是一个关于它那帆船形七星级酒店的一系列照片。当时我看得傻眼了。 而现时，大多数人们认识杜拜，也是透过这间Burj Al Arab Hotel开个头。 Burj Al Arab Hotel 接着下来，报章上又报道，杜拜又要创记录了，打造一个棕榈叶形的人造岛群，上面是一间一间的超级洋房；一些比较穷的岛国，姑且要卖岛求生，这个杜拜竟然自己制造岛屿来卖给有钱人！实在太厉害了！ 人造岛 弄了棕榈叶形人造岛还不甘休，又弄个世界地图形的，叫The World： 世界地图形人造岛(不知道谁住在“大马半岛”上呢？) 杜拜的胃口真的很大，世界最高的建筑物Burj Dubai不久后将会在它的土地上矗立： Burj Dubai 同一系列的还有最大的购物广场：Dubai Mall Dubai Mall 沙漠中的雪屋，还是第一次听到吧？ 试想象杜拜的午间是多么的热，可是这间雪屋是多么的冷，温差多么大！ 同一系列的还有最大的购物广场：Dubai Mall Snow House 雄心勃勃的杜拜政府，还对准太空旅游这行业，打算建一个太空旅游站，送有钱人上太空漫步！ Spaceport 现在全世界人的眼睛都在看着杜拜，看着它如何将这些看起来像是天方夜谭的东西一一建立起来。 不讲你不知，杜拜的人口，竟然有八十巴仙是外国人，而且政府不征税，一心一意做个全球的吸金黑洞。 《前进杜拜》不断的提醒台湾人民是时候振作了，因为环境条件那么差的杜拜都做到了，为啥台湾不能？ 我想到了大马，我们的先天条件何尝不比台湾来的更好？比杜拜的话，简直好上十倍！ 加上我们的Truly Asia,集合种种先天的，后天的好因素，我们才是今天的杜拜啊！ 为何我们不是？也许政府自己非常非常的了解。 可是连我们的副首相，都会觉得别人亏欠了446年，等别人来施舍他。 我顿时不再幻想我国可以打败杜拜了，我觉得我现在比较需要的是，了解杜拜多一些，随时做好自我准备功夫到杜拜了。 后记： 有一个朋友也是写过了关于杜拜的发展，大家可以去那儿读一读： 请按

很好的批断

今天收到一个朋友的Email, 非常有意思！ 大马能。。。。。。。。。。。。输 Malaysia Boleh.............Kalah! http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/while-malaysia-fiddles-its-opportunities-are-running-dry/2006/11/14/1163266550487.html While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry By Michael Backman The Age November 15, 2006 MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up. It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it. The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value. Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese. "Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall. This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world. Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city. As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland. Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess. The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point. It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't. Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies. They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield. Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program. Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather". But the summer Olympics are held in the summer. So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue. Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford. Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away. So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad. It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics. That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

一点迷思

今天翻开报章，读到一个小小的报道 内容是一个华裔老人逝世了，他的家人正要为他举行华人的出殡仪式，可是一群宗教局的家伙来“抢人”，把尸体搬走，然后以他们的宗教仪式进行入土仪式，因为该老人是他们的教徒。 值得我们深思的就是，为啥这班人那么得空？为啥他们不让家人决定入土的仪式？ 这班人太执著了！ 实在应该翻译施寄青的《看神听鬼》给这班太得空的人看看。 唯我独尊的这种态度，真是要不得！

好书介绍

好久没有部落格了 久久就介绍大家一些我觉得非常好的好书吧？ 最近我看了两本书，都是施寄青写的，一本是《看神听鬼》，另一本则是《通灵者说》 它们是上下集， 内容是关于施寄青遇上的一些“奇怪的“事，我们称为灵异事件。 施寄青本来是一个无神论者，她在十多廿年前，一间一间算命馆去踢馆，弄得算命界一片红海。 然，现在她写了这些课题的书，实在让人好奇她的际遇-她是否改变了她的立场？为啥？什么事？等等 《看神听鬼》前面交待她的故事，蛮有趣的，后部则较多的“说教”，不过却有种让人好不痛快的感觉！ 《通灵者说》我觉得比较好看，有很多值得大家一起深思的社会乱像。 由于这两本书都是新洲日报出版的，本地印，所以每本才15元，如果拥有大众卡，还有10%折扣！（现在热卖中，所以可以在大众的热门榜上找到） 以下是书本的大纲，从网页上找到的： http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010271843 她还撩起了台湾通灵代理界的纷争，实在不能错过此书！