First, what do you have in mind when you are exposed to the words of 'female suicide bomber'? Do you think of an extremist woman who is willing to die to 'defend' her belief?
I watched a National Geographic documentary by Lisa Ling about the life of female suicide bomber and their reason to commit such action. I was quite amazed to learn that it is not only because of her blind faith but also her miserable life due to poverty or torture from family member or spouse. The unbearable fate causes the suicide bomber to choose die in warfare rather to commit usual suicide instead. By going to the frontline, she could be considered as a hero. As such, her family social status would be raised and she might bring pride to her family.
There was a case where a woman is abused by her husband and she just could not bear it anymore. After her husband left her, the people around made such a rumour that bring shame to her family. Until finally, she decided to kill herself in warfare and inevitably, when her dead body was taken home, her family was treated with respect and honour.
In that way, it explains that harsh life is one of the main reasons why there is a bunch of woman willing to sacrifice their life as a suicide bomber. In many countries, respect and honour are often seen as the most important things to achieve in life. It is to achieve it in no time; the only possible choice is to become a suicide bomber.
If we want to end up this case, I appeal to all people, not to do something to the belief, but take into consideration their personal life and surrounding. If one could fix this and improve their quality of life, I believe that suicide bomber case will come to an end. It is wrong to blame all to the belief as no belief teaches people to do harm towards others.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Democracy. Is it good or bad?
Introduction
In democratic countries, people hold the role as the ruler of the nation through institutions, namely legislative institution, executive institution, judiciary institution (Trias Politica). The people in the mentioned institution are elected by the people in election. In election, people have the right to choose the candidates who they are fond to. The people should not be suppressed by the incumbent government as to give advantage to the government by itself so that the government can be re-elected. People have their representatives in the legislative body. Legislative body is known as parliament. The representatives propose laws and policies which the people need to the legislative assembly. The laws and policies are implemented by the executive body. Executive covers cabinets, president and the staffs. The job of the judiciary body is to monitor the laws and policies to be on the track with the constitution. The laws and policies which are proposed and implemented must not against the constitution. Thus, through election of the representatives and president, people are on the top of the hierarchy of a democratic system. But, although people are on the top of the hierarchy, the government appears as the most supreme. It is because people give the government a mandate to control over them through election.
The implementation
As the legal matters are in the process of trial and error in public, NGO and civil organization monitor the implementation of the laws and policies of the government in the grass root society. These organizations, comprising a group of people as the members, evaluate the progress and the impact of the legal matters in the society. They can criticise the government on the flaw of the rules as an input for the government to evaluate these within the 3 democratic bodies.
This is why the freedom of speech is important in democratic country. Most of the democratic country allowed the people to air their own voice. In this way, the government can reflect on their policies and laws. The acts of the government must benefit the people they ruled. Freedom of speech has lots of forms in many societies. The form depends on the society. It is to fit the need and the culture of the people, so that the forms of the freedom of speech are different from one society to another.
Freedom of speech holds a crucial role in the democratic society. Without the freedom of speech, the government act as an autocracy and totalitarian government. It cannot be evaluated and may not fit to the need of the people. The government can act as the people inside the inner circle of the government want. It is because of that, the one of requirements of a democratic system cannot be fulfilled as it is not serve the need of the people.
In a society where there are majority and minority groups, democracy is tested. Why do I say so? As I mentioned, the government is formed through an election. As the majority votes, the minority has such a small chance for its representatives to get into the government. The government mainly formed by the representations of the majority. It is hard for the minority to air their voice through the wall of majority representatives. But in certain country, the ruling party has wings for the minority groups to ensure that minority voice still exist in the parliament.
Conclusion
In my personal opinion, democracy is good since it is the voice of the people which run the country through mandatory leader. Also it is the right of people to evaluate the government programs so that the programs can really hit to the spot of problems. Although I said it is right to evaluate, we must to it in such a manner which would not harm anything along the demonstration process. The democratic system can be effective if all the groups and bodies actively involved in the process.
In democratic countries, people hold the role as the ruler of the nation through institutions, namely legislative institution, executive institution, judiciary institution (Trias Politica). The people in the mentioned institution are elected by the people in election. In election, people have the right to choose the candidates who they are fond to. The people should not be suppressed by the incumbent government as to give advantage to the government by itself so that the government can be re-elected. People have their representatives in the legislative body. Legislative body is known as parliament. The representatives propose laws and policies which the people need to the legislative assembly. The laws and policies are implemented by the executive body. Executive covers cabinets, president and the staffs. The job of the judiciary body is to monitor the laws and policies to be on the track with the constitution. The laws and policies which are proposed and implemented must not against the constitution. Thus, through election of the representatives and president, people are on the top of the hierarchy of a democratic system. But, although people are on the top of the hierarchy, the government appears as the most supreme. It is because people give the government a mandate to control over them through election.
The implementation
As the legal matters are in the process of trial and error in public, NGO and civil organization monitor the implementation of the laws and policies of the government in the grass root society. These organizations, comprising a group of people as the members, evaluate the progress and the impact of the legal matters in the society. They can criticise the government on the flaw of the rules as an input for the government to evaluate these within the 3 democratic bodies.
This is why the freedom of speech is important in democratic country. Most of the democratic country allowed the people to air their own voice. In this way, the government can reflect on their policies and laws. The acts of the government must benefit the people they ruled. Freedom of speech has lots of forms in many societies. The form depends on the society. It is to fit the need and the culture of the people, so that the forms of the freedom of speech are different from one society to another.
Freedom of speech holds a crucial role in the democratic society. Without the freedom of speech, the government act as an autocracy and totalitarian government. It cannot be evaluated and may not fit to the need of the people. The government can act as the people inside the inner circle of the government want. It is because of that, the one of requirements of a democratic system cannot be fulfilled as it is not serve the need of the people.
In a society where there are majority and minority groups, democracy is tested. Why do I say so? As I mentioned, the government is formed through an election. As the majority votes, the minority has such a small chance for its representatives to get into the government. The government mainly formed by the representations of the majority. It is hard for the minority to air their voice through the wall of majority representatives. But in certain country, the ruling party has wings for the minority groups to ensure that minority voice still exist in the parliament.
Conclusion
In my personal opinion, democracy is good since it is the voice of the people which run the country through mandatory leader. Also it is the right of people to evaluate the government programs so that the programs can really hit to the spot of problems. Although I said it is right to evaluate, we must to it in such a manner which would not harm anything along the demonstration process. The democratic system can be effective if all the groups and bodies actively involved in the process.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Comment on The Evolution of Goodness
This article is taken from ‘The Straits Times 16 April 2007’ and written by Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin
Goodness is a state of being good or perfect of something. There are a lot of examples of goodness, and so are the kinds of it. Dr. Dugatkin raised the topic about altruism in this world, human altruism and non-human altruism. Altruism means unselfish regard for the welfare of others, or willing to sacrifice for the sake of others’ benefit.
Scientists have been questioning the relation of altruism and blood relationship. Darwin failed to link altruism that challenged his theory of evolution by natural selection. In his natural selection theory, he explained that organisms can survive if they are able to adapt in the environment. He did not get it from his exploration of bees and their hives. He saw that the bees in the hives were protected by other bees that were willing to scarify to defend their hives. He was wandering on the behaviour of the bees to defend their homes that led to natural selection.
Another case, Huxley argued with Kropotkin whether blood relationship has something to do with altruism. None of them could agree to each other argument. Their argument was observed by Hamilton, a British biologist. He formulated the mathematical formula about it. From his investigation, he concluded that altruism is close with costs and benefits, along with genetic relatedness. He explained about the behaviour of organisms that are willing to do something good to others if there is benefit for the organisms themselves. In other words, the occurrence of altruism cannot be separated with mutualism between creatures. Yet, it is not for all that Hamilton said that.
For me personally, altruism has something to do with blood relationship, like what Huxley supported and what Darwin observed. But, I do not think that altruism is all about to gain benefits from others. Yes, it occurs sometimes, but not always. Either animals or humans have a strong bond with those who descended from the same ancestry, in general. We can see that from people or animals around us. People usually are willing to help their relatives and do not expect any for returns. It will lead us to personal satisfaction of helping people. It cannot be explain scientifically, but we can feel it inside our heart. In reality, people that are helped feel that they must return the goodness sometimes, even though the helpers do not oblige it for the people that are helped by them. It is not obligate, but in social life, people have put it in the context of what to do.
Organisms have the tendency to sacrifice themselves for the well being of their family or the continuity of the family line as a matter of the existence of their kind. It is natural to secure the next generation of the family so that the line will not stop at one individual.
If we see from other perspective, altruism can lead to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. We use the life of the bees as I have mentioned above. The willing-to-sacrifice bee is the creature that in the position of the eliminated creature and the bees that live with protection in the hives are the creatures that preferred by natural selection.
Unfortunately, in this real world, I must admit that reciprocity has relation to altruism. Human ego and selfishness are the main cause of the reciprocity altruism. There are very seldom occasions or individuals that are willing with their heart to help others without anything that they demand in return.
I have my personal experience regarding to this issue. One day, I was in Medical Certificate. I did not go to school for 3 days due to fever. The day before I went back to school, I went to my so-called friend to borrow his notes and homework so I can hand the assignments to the teacher when I felt well enough to go to school. He lent me his. He said that it was okay and no problem. He also mentioned that he was really ‘sincere’ enough to help me. When I went to school and spend the whole day in the school, nothing happen. In the evening when I returned from school, he called me. He asked the answer of the homework for the following day. I refused. He kept telling me that I have to do something in return because he had helped me. It really did not make sense. If he called because he was not clear about the instruction, it was all right. But, he called me so that he did not need to do his homework by himself. He said that he was too lazy to finish his.
Hamilton made his formulae based on the relation of individuals and the benefits behind it. People tend to help their relatives first before they looked others and helped them. Closeness matters in this problem. The closer you are to a person, the more you will help that person. I link back to the reciprocity of altruism. I give you an example. You feel that you are close to A. One day, A and B need your help. You are not very close to B. You probably will choose A first. One day, if you need help, who do you think will help you, A or B? You may think that A will help you because this person is close to you and because you have helped this person, right? It can be true if A feels that you are close to him/her. If B is a very kind person, you will get help from him/her. I do not talk about goodness in this way for now. It is altruism and relatedness that I highlighted.
I think it is easier to go through this with the examples of human rather than animals. Why? It is because as a human, we hardly understand how animals think and behave. We have our limit to approach animals’ ways of thinking. Animals live with their instinct, but humans use their mind and little portion of instinct. Altruism is not all about reciprocity, but also kindness that human has. As a human we should diminished our ego and selfishness to make a better environment for all.
Goodness is a state of being good or perfect of something. There are a lot of examples of goodness, and so are the kinds of it. Dr. Dugatkin raised the topic about altruism in this world, human altruism and non-human altruism. Altruism means unselfish regard for the welfare of others, or willing to sacrifice for the sake of others’ benefit.
Scientists have been questioning the relation of altruism and blood relationship. Darwin failed to link altruism that challenged his theory of evolution by natural selection. In his natural selection theory, he explained that organisms can survive if they are able to adapt in the environment. He did not get it from his exploration of bees and their hives. He saw that the bees in the hives were protected by other bees that were willing to scarify to defend their hives. He was wandering on the behaviour of the bees to defend their homes that led to natural selection.
Another case, Huxley argued with Kropotkin whether blood relationship has something to do with altruism. None of them could agree to each other argument. Their argument was observed by Hamilton, a British biologist. He formulated the mathematical formula about it. From his investigation, he concluded that altruism is close with costs and benefits, along with genetic relatedness. He explained about the behaviour of organisms that are willing to do something good to others if there is benefit for the organisms themselves. In other words, the occurrence of altruism cannot be separated with mutualism between creatures. Yet, it is not for all that Hamilton said that.
For me personally, altruism has something to do with blood relationship, like what Huxley supported and what Darwin observed. But, I do not think that altruism is all about to gain benefits from others. Yes, it occurs sometimes, but not always. Either animals or humans have a strong bond with those who descended from the same ancestry, in general. We can see that from people or animals around us. People usually are willing to help their relatives and do not expect any for returns. It will lead us to personal satisfaction of helping people. It cannot be explain scientifically, but we can feel it inside our heart. In reality, people that are helped feel that they must return the goodness sometimes, even though the helpers do not oblige it for the people that are helped by them. It is not obligate, but in social life, people have put it in the context of what to do.
Organisms have the tendency to sacrifice themselves for the well being of their family or the continuity of the family line as a matter of the existence of their kind. It is natural to secure the next generation of the family so that the line will not stop at one individual.
If we see from other perspective, altruism can lead to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. We use the life of the bees as I have mentioned above. The willing-to-sacrifice bee is the creature that in the position of the eliminated creature and the bees that live with protection in the hives are the creatures that preferred by natural selection.
Unfortunately, in this real world, I must admit that reciprocity has relation to altruism. Human ego and selfishness are the main cause of the reciprocity altruism. There are very seldom occasions or individuals that are willing with their heart to help others without anything that they demand in return.
I have my personal experience regarding to this issue. One day, I was in Medical Certificate. I did not go to school for 3 days due to fever. The day before I went back to school, I went to my so-called friend to borrow his notes and homework so I can hand the assignments to the teacher when I felt well enough to go to school. He lent me his. He said that it was okay and no problem. He also mentioned that he was really ‘sincere’ enough to help me. When I went to school and spend the whole day in the school, nothing happen. In the evening when I returned from school, he called me. He asked the answer of the homework for the following day. I refused. He kept telling me that I have to do something in return because he had helped me. It really did not make sense. If he called because he was not clear about the instruction, it was all right. But, he called me so that he did not need to do his homework by himself. He said that he was too lazy to finish his.
Hamilton made his formulae based on the relation of individuals and the benefits behind it. People tend to help their relatives first before they looked others and helped them. Closeness matters in this problem. The closer you are to a person, the more you will help that person. I link back to the reciprocity of altruism. I give you an example. You feel that you are close to A. One day, A and B need your help. You are not very close to B. You probably will choose A first. One day, if you need help, who do you think will help you, A or B? You may think that A will help you because this person is close to you and because you have helped this person, right? It can be true if A feels that you are close to him/her. If B is a very kind person, you will get help from him/her. I do not talk about goodness in this way for now. It is altruism and relatedness that I highlighted.
I think it is easier to go through this with the examples of human rather than animals. Why? It is because as a human, we hardly understand how animals think and behave. We have our limit to approach animals’ ways of thinking. Animals live with their instinct, but humans use their mind and little portion of instinct. Altruism is not all about reciprocity, but also kindness that human has. As a human we should diminished our ego and selfishness to make a better environment for all.
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