No Mercy and Non Merci No Mercy ?Lapindo Brantas Inc. may have agreed to buy all the land affected by the
mudflow in Sidoarjo, but they have yet to agree compensation for the 'contents' - houses, factories, community facilities, rice fields et al. What is perhaps worse is their callous disregard for the welfare of those affected by the disaster, a disaster initially caused by the incompetence of their oil drilling crew. Many thousands, 13,000 and rising, are still waiting adequate financial compensation or emergency expenses.
17 year old Arifah was on her way to help a relative pack up and move to a shelter in a covered market - where 8,000 people are currently sheltering - when she slipped into the encroaching hot mud. As reported in this morning's Jakarta Post, she is now in hospital with 35% of her body burned. Lapindo is exceedingly tardy in paying her hospital expenses.
The co-ordinator of the rescue and evacuation volunteers, Adjie, is quoted as saying, "
There continues to be a threat to safety. ... People should be very careful since there's no guarantee for people's lives or safety from the government or Lapindo."
Thirteen people are known to have died, some burned beyond recognition, when a
gas pipeline exploded on 23rd November.
In keeping with the sub-heading, I suggest that the Bakrie clan, owners of Lapindo and much else, including some of the media which 'informs' us, should henceforth be known as the Bakery clan.
Non Merci? At the Asian Games currently drawing to a close in Doha, Qatar, Japan hammered Taiwan 7-0 in the softball final in a game shortened to five games due to
the mercy rule,
also well known by the slightly less polite term slaughter rule or, less commonly, knockout rule and skunk rule.
Well known? Well, not to me, but that could be because
it is very rare in competitive sports beyond the high school level and the only competitive sport I play in is the Bintang Cup. The rule is better known as 'knocked sideways'. and is is awarded to the bozo who can booze the most Bintangs.
The next rounds of this open sport are tonight at Ya Udah in Jl. Jaksa where the Annual Xmas BlogFest is being held. See you there?
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