What are we? Chopped liver?

From BBC: Jacob Zuma's three first ladies:

The question that has South Africa's media all of a twitter is: "Who amongst Jacob Zuma's three wives will be the country's next first lady?"

It was hoped the inauguration ceremony of South Africa's first polygamous president this Saturday would be some indication, but it has been reported he will be accompanied by all three women.

Polygamy is still common in rural KwaZulu Natal, where Mr Zuma is from.

According to political analyst Protas Madlala, many Zulus who are Christian have turned away from the practice, but it persists in rural areas because of the low standard of education and enduring poverty there.

The BBC has just called just under 2 billion people uneducated and poor. I'm having such mixed reactions to this. On the one hand, my religion allows polygamy (under very specific circumstances, which includes permission from existing wives, gentlemen), and on the other, I'm so against polygamy that it hurts. And then there's the argument that it's better that you're aware of the husband's antics rather than he have secret mistresses, which too me is a moot point.

But anyway, the fact is that there are incidences of polygamy in upper-middle-income countries too, and there is likely a higher incidence among the wealthier and more educated than one would think (which is evident in Malaysian society). Arguably, in these countries, polygamy is a 'luxury good' as higher income means you can afford more wives.

Either way, any data collected on the issue is biased because polygamy is illegal in all but a few countries in the world. I declare, therefore, that this statement was unsubstantiated.

Take that, BBC!

From The Star: Don: Malaysia needs to be high-income economy:

DUH! What did he think, that we chose to be middle-income? That we went, "oh that's ok, we're pretty comfortable down here, we don't really need high-income"?

Why does someone have to die for the world to take notice?

From The Star: Group to fight snatch thieves and Mat Rempit menace:

BATU PAHAT: The Home Ministry will set up a joint committee to come up with a plan to fight snatch thieves and Mat Rempit in the wake of the tragedies that claimed the lives of two pregnant women.

Deputy Minister Jelaing Mersat said the committee would involve other ministries and departments, such as the Transport Ministry, Puspakom, the Road Transport Department and local authorities.

Jelaing said snatch thieves and Mat Rempit had become serious problems.

“We aim to come up with a big effort to solve these problems,” he told pressmen after visiting Razali Ahmad, 41, at his home in Ayer Hitam here yesterday.

Razali lost his wife Jamilah Selamat, 31, who was two months’ pregnant, following a snatch theft in Taman Ayer Hitam on Sunday.

She fell off her motorcycle, hit her head on a pavement and went into a coma.

Yesterday, another snatch theft in Kota Baru claimed the life of Saripah Mohd Nor, 34, who was four months’ pregnant.

Jelaing said the ministry and police had to step up their crime-fighting efforts, adding that the perpetrators must be caught as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff, who was also present, said a task force led by state CID chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Amer Awal would carry out investigations into Jamilah’s death.

He said police were still waiting for the post-mortem report and results of Puspakom’s examination of the victim’s motorcycle.

DCP Mohd Mokhtar said he had ordered Batu Pahat OCPD Asst Comm Ibrahim Aris to set up community policing and neighbourhood watches in Taman Ayer Hitam and Taman Mekar here.

He also urged witnesses to come forward to assist police with investigations.

Those with information can call the police hotline at 07-221 2999 or go to the nearest police station.

Why does someone have to die before people sit up and take notice? If you follow the 'most read' tab on the news websites, it always has to be a tragedy or a sex-related crime for people to find it interesting. It's deplorable.

In this case, 2 pregnant women didn't have to die for the police to take action. The signs were everywhere. All the police had to do was go out for a drive in a plain car to know the extent to which motorcyclists are getting out of hand. They should try to change lanes in slow-moving traffic, and just generally drive around and notice the motorcyclists going the wrong way, using the sidewalk as their own personal lane, and generally being ridiculously crazy.

So why did it take the loss of 4 lives for them to sit up and take notice?