I apologize for having any ties to Malaysia today. I'm not ashamed of the country, just some of its inhabitants. Great place, unbeat weather, seriously awesome food-- marred only by mosquitoes, some obscure strains of bacteria, and idiotic ignorant political figures.
According to Madam Mansor (the wife of the Malaysian Prime minister-Najib) Japan has a lot to learn from their "kelalaian" (neglect) that led to the collosal damage in the wake of the earthquake. She recommends they before any future construction, they should examine their surroundings and raise their building standards to meet the requirements of green technology.
*facepalm*
Did this woman take geography? Does she understand the meaning of natural disaster?
Last time I checked, an "efficient, energy saving" building doesn't deter 20 foot waves.
I'm not even going to ask whether she reads CNN and understands that the buildings in Japan were as secure as humanly possible--following strict building code that contained the disaster. I just feel really bad for her architect.
Yes Madam Mansor, we have a lot to learn from this. Let's sign you up for night classes covering kajian tempatan and sains teras. We'll cover the origin of earthquakes, some civil engineering, very basic physics, and hopefully instill some empathy along the way. This is the time to help victims in Japan, not the time to misdirect blame or draw attention to one's lack of logic.
The only saving grace is that the ignorance of this Malaysian figure has yet to be publicized -- since the news clip is in Malay so only 1% of the world understands her unforgivable comments.
