(06/06/04
Look at this girl. I saw her in Tawau, Malaysia while I was trying to eat dinner with the family. She was selling bags of boiled peanuts at 9 PM for 1 Malaysian ringitt (approx US$.25). I know she doesn't get to see any of the money, but I couldn't help but buy about 5 bags from her, knowing that if the 5-year-old girl didn't meet her quota, she'd get her ass beat. The peanuts were utterly unimpressive. She was the youngest of a gang of about 20 to 25 children wandering the area selling peanuts. The other children varied in age from 7 to 10. I'm guessing that when they turn 11, the boys become drug runners and the girls become prostitutes.
Our hostess explained that heavily armed organized criminals controlled regions of the city and brought social destruction by getting parents hooked on drugs so that they could exploit their children. Meanwhile, they smuggle drugs and weapons into Malaysia from Indonesia or the Philippines and run local whorehouses and similar businesses.
This isn't the only child labor I've seen in Malaysia. My first breakfast here, I was served by a boy approximately 10-12 years of age. On the other side of the restaurant, another boy about 12-14 years of age was serving other tables. I've seen an approximately 9 year old girl peeling about 5 pounds of garlic cloves. There were other examples, but all of them were working for the restaurant. However, I know that all these other children I saw were either paid the market value for their labor (about $70 a month) or were children of the owner. The little girl pictured above was not an employee of the restaurant, but the restaurant owner didn't have the heart to kick out the 20 kids who decided to set up shop in the dining room. I was in such shock at the sight that I was half expecting Ashton Kutcher to appear and laugh his ass off at me. And then I remembered that I was neither famous nor interesting.
The reason why I'm bringing this to your attention is because I really didn't know what to do about these children. I ended up spending 10 ringitt ($2.63) buying bags of terrible unseasoned overboiled peanuts from many of the children and not eating them. Call me crazy or tell me that I'm contributing to the problem, but I don't like the idea of the children getting their asses kicked over 26 cents. So I pose the question: What can be done about this girl? Email me if you have any ideas. I'd actually really like to help this little girl out.
