Burma’s boatpeople ‘faced choice of annihilation or risking their lives at sea’
Emma Graham-HarrisonThousands of members of the Rohingya, a Burmese minority group, are now adrift in the Andaman Sea, with aid groups fearing ‘boatloads of corpses’. They were carried or staggered ashore, some paralysed by malnutrition, others little more than walking skeletons, burnt and dazed from weeks at sea on boats the UN has called “floating coffins”.
Similar dream, different lives
By Joel Ruiz ButuyanThe latest survey showing Jejomar Binay as still the front-running presidential candidate has stirred the middle class and the rich (the “nonpoor”) to again mouth their pet refrain: The poor are to blame for all that ails this country because they are unintelligent voters who allow corrupt leaders to rule.
MANILA, Philippines — Only 18 percent of Filipinos saw themselves as “thriving” financially, while the rest of the represented population said they are “struggling” or “suffering” in terms of economic security.
The recent Gallup-Healthways State of Global Well-Being Index 2014 reported that Filipinos’ perception of financial security is notably below the Asian and global averages of 25 percent.
While doing field research in the country’s poorest areas, my team came across a community where some residents, when asked why there were so many poor people in their area, matter-of-factly said it’s because many of their neighbors are lazy. We also interviewed the project staff of a national government poverty reduction program; when asked why there were so many poor people in their province, their response was, again, because many of them are lazy. Regional heads of national government agencies that we gathered in a focus group discussion chorused that the reason there are many poor people in their region is that most of them are—you guessed it—lazy.