Monday, November 26, 2012

Charity... relatively speaking


NST columnist, Ahmad A. Talib, was full of praise for our current flavour of cronyism, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary:

"With colleagues from the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, I flew to Nias, got permission to move the orphan and sent him straight to Syed Mokhtar's orphanage, fully sponsored. Syed Mokhtar took less than a minute to take the boy under his wing.
Then, there's the story about a couple who died in a road accident in Kedah recently, leaving behind seven children. At a short notice, Syed Mokhtar dutifully took all seven into his care."

"I believe a person has every reason to pursue wealth. Most, if not everyone, have a right to pursue wealth and prosperity. But the real test is what one does with all that wealth.

Syed Mokhtar, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal, to name a few whom I know personally, have charity as one of the fundamental pillars of their business empires. Really, you can't go wrong with that."

"As the organiser, I had written to Syed Mokhtar for sponsorship. In less than one day, he presented the cheque, upon which the conference was successfully held."

Read more: Get to know the man through his book - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/get-to-know-the-man-through-his-book-1.176295#ixzz2DK82pjqf

Previously, Kalimullah (another known crony) was praising himself for inviting someone who seemed hungry and could not afford to eat, into KFC where he was dining with his family.

While it is commendable that the above-mentioned super rich men showed compassion to some fellow human beings, in terms of what they obtained for being cronies of the leadership (past and present), there is nothing to shout about.

Relatively speaking, those acts of compassion and charity cannot be compared with an ordinary person who forgoes his entitlement to say, BR1M or government scholarship, so that another more deserving person could benefit in his place.

The following is a graphic of Syed Mokhtar's empire, lifted from Facebook:



Link

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