JUNE 4 ― We Malaysians love to “tai-chi.” Not as in the martial art form but the way we love to use “tai-chi” to mean “deflecting.” 

“Wah, Minister so-and-so terer ah tai-chi when we try to ask him questions!”

We have a minister who blames soup kitchens for the growing number of homeless people. And just yesterday, I nearly popped a blood vessel reading this gem of a headline in the New Straits Times:

“Why did a little cherub like Sofea have to roam the streets of KL? Are NGOs to blame?”

If you haven't heard, Sofea was the little girl kidnapped then beheaded recently, who had been living on the streets with her mother who was homeless.

So let me guess this straight — a little girl being homeless is the fault of NGOs? Did NGOs put her father in jail? Did NGOs make her mother destitute? Should we also blame the NGOs for not preventing her abduction?

We have a long history of demonising NGOS. They are popularly seen as fronts for foreign interference, with nefarious secret agendas. Unless of course they're called Perkasa, where instead they'll be hailed as bastions of justice, freedom and the Bumiputera way.

So ingrained is this notion that I shouldn't have been surprised to meet a Chinese woman in her 30s, educated, literate who insisted Bersih was a coalition being used by foreign powers to destabilise the country.

Blaming NGOs for our problems is certainly “tai-chi-ing” at the highest level but seriously NGO stands for non-government organisations not Evil Zionist Jewish Masterminds of Malaysia's Destruction.

NGOs exist because there is a need for them. There are people who are trying to feed the homeless out of goodwill and what do we do? Blame them for there being homeless people in the first place.

People are not stray animals. Feeding the destitute and those who have fallen on hard times will not make poverty (or poor people) multiply. 

Just the other day someone suggested that feeding the homeless will make them “lazy” and it would be better to “teach them how to fish” instead.

The columnist believes blaming NGOs for problems faced by our society, such as poverty and homelessness, is certainly 'tai-chi-ing' at the highest level. — AFP pic

Here's the deal, bub. Sometimes circumstances converge in such a manner that you end up on the street even though you had never anticipated your ending up there.  Being fired, falling ill, having to support a very ill family member, getting into an accident and becoming permanently disabled... sometimes life screws you over no matter how much you try not to let it.

Malaysia has no real support structure for the poor. If you're lucky, maybe you'll get paid a couple of hundreds from the welfare department. But how much does RM300 or so go these days? That's barely enough to feed a family for a few weeks.

In Western countries, there is such a thing as unemployment payments. It will help tide you over until you can get back on your feet. True, some do abuse the system with the thinking “Why work when the government pays me money?” But unemployment for some is the only thing that keeps their head above water until they can find work. Finding a job is work itself, an endeavour that costs time and money.

NGOs are just that — organisations that work independently, without government sanction and in most cases, must rely on their own resources. Except for Perkasa of course, which benefited from the kind largesse of our government. Funny how our government doesn't have funds for the homeless but is willing to give money to buffoons and dissemination of hate. Of course no one likes pointing out it's the equivalent of the US government giving aid to the Ku Klux Klan.

We cannot keep blaming NGOs for our government's failures. We cannot keep pretending that poverty is a simple and quick fix. There are shady NGOs, sure, but blaming them for our societal issues and problems when many of them exist to address said issues and problems is quite frankly idiocy.

Is there an NGO for the prevention of the dissemination of stupidity? If there is, sign me right up.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.