Okay, enough about Singapore for the time being.

There were two articles I read recently that got my attention.

The first one was written by Theresa Tan of the Straits Times and was part of a multi-page feature on China's (notably Hainan in this feature) preoccupation of having male progenies over female. Story after story spoke of the desperate measures some couples resort to get a son or a village full of bachelors who are bearing the brunt of an ever decreasing pool of potential brides.

However, the bright spark was the story of the Yao couple, two peasants who are practically living hand to mouth. But what set them apart from their peers is that they have been accepting unwanted and discarded baby girls and have brought them up with hardly any outside help. Sometimes, even going by with only two meals a day, usually plain noodles or buns, but the girls would get three meals of rice and other cooked dishes.

In time, some friends and relatives chipped in by either adopting some of the girls or helping to take care of them.

"Boys and girls are the same. Both are lives".

The other is an op-ed that was written by Uzodinma Iweala for the New York Post entitled "Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa".

It is an interesting and different perspective of the whole "Save Africa" cause célèbre that is currently all the rage in first-world western nations.

His contention is that there seems to be a certain throwback to the old colonial days when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce them to education, Jesus Christ and "civilisation."

No doubt such help is appreciated by those receiving it, but the imbalance inherent of such a programme seems rather obvious. You have the spot light cast on Bono, Madonna, Angelina Jolie or some other celebrity while Africans regardless of the amount of work they do for their brethrens are cast either as props or supporting actors.

I have to admit that my image of Africa has been coloured by the very campaigns and programmes that were set up by well-intentioned celebrities or political personalities to alleviate some of the problems they face. To me, it seems Africa is a helpless continent that needs external intervention to save them from themselves.

Yes, I, an Asian who is a descendant of the very people who were once the subject races of "well-intentioned" British colonialist have unknowingly bought into this neo-colonial belief of western superiority over the backward and infighting tribes of Africa.

And I believe that it is this very idea of western cultural and intellectual superiority that colours a lot of their views and foreign policies regarding Asia, Africa and the Middle-East. The IMF and the World Bank are prime examples.

This leads to the question of whether colonialism as we know it in history is really over. Are our minds, ideas, cultures, beliefs and perspective still colonised by the west. It seems the answer is a resounding "yes".

Then this would bring up the next few questions that remain to be answered: Is it for the better? Will the world be forever divided inequitably between the west and the rest? And is Uzodinma Iweala too unrealistic for his own good?

Labels: africa, china, human interest, international, politics