Earth: Population = 7 Billion

According to the United Nations estimate; on 31st October 2011, the human race reached a population milestone of 7 billion. As cheers and fears greet the symbolic "7th Billion babies" being born across the globe.

It is estimated that the world reached its 1 billion population milestone on 1804 and it took slightly over 200 years for the world to reach 7 billion. What an achievement! Better access to healthcare (lengthen life expectancy and reduced infant mortality and eradication/ prevention of diseases), education (empowerment of human capital, choice and progressive thinking), energy (fuel, gas, mass production of food) and awareness through the information age are among the main contributors to the population growth. It is something that all of us should be proud of.

Nevertheless, war, poverty, hunger, oppression, injustice continue to plague mankind. The earth as created by God can provide a comfortable and sufficient food and resources to feed all mankind, be it 7 billion or even 10 billion! As the saying goes, the world can feed every man on earth but can never feed the greed of mankind.

As it is written in God's word in 1 timothy 6:10 "for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil"

Resources and energy footprints are already leaving strains on the earth's abundance with climate change and excessive depletion of resources in the past several decades, leaving a trail of challenges to produce and provide the most basic requirement for survival : Clean water and food.

At the end of the day, it is the heart of every man that will decide the future of the human race. As the world marked the "7th Billion babies", let us recall the world's first baby being born: the child of Adam and Eve, Cain. Cain is the first infant being born in the world (According to the Bible), and after Cain, there was another child, Abel (Cain's younger brother). As all christians would know the story, Cain being the first person being born of man and woman had also became the world's first murderer.

As God said it in Genesis 8:21 "...every inclination of his [a man] heart is evil from childhood..." . All mankind can only find assurance in a peaceful, abundant and fruitful present and the future through faith in God and His words.

Today, we can be proud of the population milestones, but without God in our hearts, our worries and fear of the future of mankind is trustworthy and true.

Let us rekindle our hope in the coming Christmas season, where the answer lies to the Person's birthday that we all celebrate.

God bless

Joshua

Floods in Thailand & Earthquake in Turkey

Natural disasters of epic proportions are happening on a weekly basis while violence and oppresion continue to take place across the Arab world. Continue on with countless unreported or undocumented cases of injustice, human trafficking, slavery or sexual assaults happening everyday dampens our spirit.

While keeping our hopes alive, we must not slide into ignorance and heartlessness.





Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, we prayed that our hearts are willing to give generously.

Joshua

Alopecia Girls

My fellow alopecians and friends at the NAAF Conference 2011 Talent show...

Kiah is truly an amazing girl, I wish I have half of her courage and strength...





God bless us all, including all the alopecians like me :)

Proud to be an alopecian :)

Joshua

Heartless society

The incident and video footage pierced not only my heart but soul as well...A chinese toddler was hit, ran-over twice and 18 passerbys offered no assistance whatsoever...





A second video showed (recently happened) remarkable display of compassion and instinct by a dog saving another dog after it was hit. How people can be so heartless these days?...




Lord, forgive us.

Joshua

The Spirit of Christmas 2011 arrives...

The year of 2011 started with much pain, horror and sorrow. It's time that the Christmas Spirit to arrive, filling each heart again with hope, hope for a perfect love descending from the Heavens as in the First Christmas.

~Joshua

Malaysian police ethics

I was caught by the police for overtaking a vehicle along a double line lane.

Here's how it begins. Three cars (mine was the second) were trailing behind a lorry that is going at the speed of 60 km/h on a 80 km/h road. Perhaps all the three cars were impatient including myself. So we decided to overtake the lorry, simultaneously one car after another.

All three cars were caught red handed after the overtaking by two policemen in front. All three cars were stopped aside, suprisingly only me (the driver of the second car) was asked to get down from the car and proceed to another police who was waiting by the police car. The cars in front and behind me had children (presumbly family) in them.

So the police asked for my identification, so I gave both my driving license and identity card. So the conversation began:

Police: Can I have your Identity card?

Joshua: Yes. [Gave both my driving licence and IC]

Police: I'm going to give you a ticket for overtaking on a double line lane, do you want the ticket?

Joshua: I have break the law, what else can I do?

Police: The ticket is going to cost you RM 600.

Joshua: That much???!!! That's impossible, according to the law its only RM 300 maximum.

Police: This is OPS SIKAP (Referring to the special traffic police operation for the holiday season)

Joshua: That's not right, I didn't hear from anywhere that they raised the compound/ ticket.

Police (2): [The one who stop me and dealed with the other two drivers who were in their cars]

Police (2): Why did you overtake?

Joshua: The car behind me were following very closely.

Police (2): But you shouldn't.

Joshua: Yes, I break the law.

Police: So do you want a ticket?

Joshua: What else can I do, I have broken the law.

Joshua: [ Police 2 was walking back to the other drivers returning their licence] Did the other two drivers get a ticket else well? How come I am the only one getting a ticket while not the other two?

Police: [Panicked abit] if you dont want a ticket is fine.

Police (2): [ Walked back towards the first police officer and me by the police car]

Joshua: I broke the law, so did they? So why wasn't they given a ticket as well?

Police: [couldn't answer me while trying to return my identity card and driving licence]

Police (2): We didnt gave them a ticket and we're not going to give you one either.

Joshua: [I took out my mobile and start recording down the car registration number of the other two vehicles who are leaving now, while the police looked panicked abit]

Police: We're not giving you a ticket, we didn't asked you to sign anything right.

Joshua: Really, you can do that? but I break the law.

Police: We can let you off with a warning.

Joshua: Thank you sir [Walked back to my car and drove away]

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So, the moral of the story? If you break the law, bear with the consequences and deal with it. There's no need to break another law (corruption) to get away. Corrupt practices are so rampant these days, everyone in Malaysia knows it and a majority of them will get away by paying RM50 -RM 100 to the officer to get away from a summom/ticket (RM 300).

And so I was let off with a verbal warning for a traffic offence which I admitted. Three cars committed the offence and I'm the one who is given a ticket? Where is justice? If the police decide to give me a ticket still without giving the other two drivers. It will not be easy for the police when I file a COMPLAINT!

Perhaps, I should thank the other two drivers, if wasn't for them and I commited the offence alone. I will have to pay a RM300 ticket now...haha.

If we don't want a CORRUPT GOVERNMENT, we must not be CORRUPT CITIZEN or offer even a single cent of bribe as well!

Joshua

Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Merdeka!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Happy Merdeka to all muslims and Malaysians.

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Life has been somehow interesting and boring at times but the purpose of this blog is to "Speak up".

So, it's time to work hard, save the money and visit and spend time with people who matter the most to me in life.

Have a great holiday.

Malaysia needs greater independence from oppression, injustice, corruption!

Joshua