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Saturday, January 30, 2021

How to Enjoy Delicious Healthy Meals at Home and Save Money

When I was a little girl, I used to sit on the balcony to read. Since my flat was facing a restaurant kitchen, the restaurant workers tasting soup from a soup ladle and stirring the pot of soup with the same was a familiar sight to me. It was also nothing unusual to see big fat rats running in and out of the restaurant kitchen especially at night. My mom saw the rats too and she knew how the restaurant workers were doing their taste-test but she did not mind and we continued to buy food from that restaurant. Although I did not like it, I had no choice but to conform to the social norm because I had no money to buy my own food. My mother also liked to buy fried noodles and porridge at the morning market, tau foo far (soy bean pudding) and curry noodles at the nearby stalls, coconut tarts, curry puffs, and fried bananas at the weekly night market. These were my favorite foods and I have enjoyed eating them for years until my mom fell ill and I had to buy these foods myself. That was when I began to understand the meaning of food hygiene and food safety. 

At the morning market, I got the shock of my life when I saw how the fried noodles were served. The hawker put the noodles on a layer of plastic which was on top of a layer of newspaper and wrapped them. Well, using newspaper as the second layer in wrapping food was fine but under that layer of newspaper was another layer of plastic followed by another layer of newspaper and so on. In other words, the hawker has arranged the plastic and newspaper alternately, one on top of  the other, and it was obvious that the plastic coming into contact with the newspaper on top of it and below it would have been contaminated. Can anyone imagine how many people have read these newspapers? What if one of them had skin disease or TB? Next, the hawker put her hand into a plastic bag to open it before she put the porridge in it. Did she wash her hands before that? No, she has just collected money from one of her customers. From that day onwards, I never ate her fried noodles and porridge again even though I still bought them for my family members.

Like the porridge seller, the tau foo far seller also put his hand into the plastic bag to open it before putting the tau foo far in it. Well, I did not eat his tau foo far that day but took it home and gave it to my brother. He ate the tau foo far and said, "big germs eat small germs" which meant that he was the big germ that ate the small germs in the tau foo far. The next time I went to buy tau foo far, I brought my Corning Ware with me and asked the seller to put the tau foo far in it. With his thumb sticking in my Corning Ware, the tau foo far really washed his thumb clean for him that day. So, again I gave the tau foo far to my brother who ate it happily. He did not mind when I told him that the hawker washed his thumb with the tau foo far. As for the curry noodles, the same thing happened because it seemed that the hawkers could not open the plastic bags without putting their hands into these bags first. 

Similarly, when I went to the night market to buy food for the family for the first time, I was shocked to see the hawker taking the coconut tarts with his bare hands and putting them in a plastic bag. And he has just collected money before that! The curry puff / fried banana seller was even worse. Instead of using plastic bags, she just took the curry puffs and fried bananas with her bare hands and wrapped them in a newspaper. 

My first set of recipe books (Family Meals, One-course Meals, Curried and Spiced, Vegetarian Food, Healthy Asian food, Oriental Banquets, Quick Meals in a Wok, Oriental Seafood, Asian Cooking for Beginners & Snacks and Party Food) by Charmaine Solomon, the Queen of Asian Cooking in Australia

After these unpleasant experiences, I became very particular about food cleanliness. I started to cook my own food after coming back from the Teachers' Training College and have been eating only the food that I cook myself since then. I can still remember the day I bought my first set of recipe books (above), non-stick wok and stove. During those days, Charmaine Solomon's recipe books were like a Bible to me. At that time, I could not cook very well but after years of cooking various kinds of dishes through trial and error, I have become a super chef now. And with all the cooking videos on the internet today, I am having the time of my life trying out new recipes every day. The meals that I cook are not only tasty and nutritious but also very fresh and hygienic. They are also much cheaper compared to restaurant meals. Who says that you cannot eat a luxurious meal at home? You certainly can have five-star meals at home if you have good mentors and are willing to learn. Who are my mentors? Marion Grasby @ Marion's Kitchen, Natasha Kravchuk @ Natasha's Kitchen, N'Oven, and Yummy's Kitchen. These are really five-star mentors who make life more colorful for me with their mouth-watering videos and I love all their recipes. Not to forget my first cooking mentor, Charmaine Solomon, who inspired me to cook through her wonderful recipes. Although I am not a millionaire, I can still enjoy good food and I consider this a great blessing. Eating five-star foods in the comfort of my home while watching my favorite videos is really heavenly! "To eat is a necessity but to eat intelligently is an art" (Francois de la Rochefoucauld). I am glad that I have learnt the art of enjoying life to the fullest. 

Of course I do eat out but this is an extremely rare occasion. When was the last time I ate out? Well, that was somewhere in December 2019 (today is 30 January 2021) when my former colleague, Geraldine, drove me and two other friends to see her new house. I brought my tupperware, spoon and fork that day because the sight of food particles sticking to the plate, spoon, and fork in the restaurant can make me vomit. I thought of going to a mixed rice restaurant and "tapau" some dishes in my tupperware but Geraldine brought us to a restaurant selling all kinds of noodles. I had no choice but to order curry noodles since that was my favorite. OMG! I nearly fainted when I saw the seller picking the yellow noodles with his hands after collecting money from one of his customers. His curry noodles were not cheap either - I had to pay RM9 for a small bowl of yellow noodles which I did not eat. The problem was - I just couldn't put the noodles in my mouth because the way he kept picking the noodles using his hands was really nauseating. Deep in my mind, I was thinking of my home-cooked purple potato curry pan mee and I felt like crying. I quarreled with Geraldine because of that. What a terrible day!

My favorite beetroot, kelp seaweed, and purple potato pan mee

In the photo above, you can see my favorite beetroot, kelp seaweed, and purple potato noodles. They are very nutritious and do not contain preservatives and coloring. At RM9.20, I can get the whole packet, not just a small bowl of yellow noodles. I don't like to eat yellow noodles because of their high levels of boric acid and benzoic acid which can cause cancer and kidney failure. 

During the early days of my teaching career, I always volunteered to teach in the afternoon session so that I could cook and eat first before going to school. Since the afternoon session started at 1.00 p.m., I always had ample time to cook and enjoy my meals those days. Fridays were the best because school started at 2.45 p.m. and by 7.00 p.m., I was already on my way home to cook a delicious five-star dinner. But, since I started teaching in the morning session, I have to get up a little bit earlier to cook. I usually have noodles for brunch because I don't have much time to cook in the morning. However, I never get tired of eating noodles because my mentors have shared their best noodles recipes with me. Some of these recipes include Spicy Garlic Prawn Spaghetti, Rice Vermicelli with Prawns, Singapore Stir-fried Rice Noodles, Chinese Soy Sauce Chicken with Noodles, Korean Kimchi Vegetable Noodles, Steamed Fish with Noodles, Vegetable Hakka Noodles, Special Hokkien Noodles, Rice Vermicelli with Chicken and Potato, and Creamy Miso Mushroom Spaghetti. Cooking is an art and much would depend on our creativity. I have also  invented lots of new noodles recipes myself using my favorite pan mee. I like to add lots of vegetables, meat, and prawns to the noodles. To save time, I prepare my ingredients the night before and put them in the fridge. Recently, I have been baking lots of cakes and cookies. My favorite cakes / cookies include Eggless Chocolate Steam Cake, Banana Chocolate Chip Cake, Chocolate Semolina Cake, Eggless Chocolate Poke Cake, Chocolate Sponge Cake, Mango Cake, No Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake, Chocolate Pound CakeChocolate Banana Steam Cake, Oreo Biscuits Cake, Peanut Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Do you know that a 1kg chocolate cake costs at least RM69 in Kuala Lumpur? But how much do the ingredients cost? If you bake it yourself, you can save a lot of money). I have been making biscuits and puddings too. Since I don't have the time to eat at home in the mornings, I bring my noodles, cakes. cookies, biscuits, and puddings to school where I can eat when I am free 

As for dinner, I will cook one or two dishes and eat without rice. Most of the time, I only cook one dish but I cook a lot because I don't eat rice. If it is a meat dish, I will eat it with lettuce and tomatoes. If I have the mood to cook two dishes, I will cook one meat dish and one vegetable dish. What do I normally cook for dinner? Steamed Soy & Ginger FishSteamed Fish with WalnutsCrispy Fried Fish with Sweet Sour Sauce, Poached Fish with Peanuts, Stir-fried Fish with Mustard CabbageStir-fried Chicken and CapsicumsChicken with Corn and Cashews, Chicken and Pineapple, Creamy Herb Mushroom Chicken, Chicken with Almonds and Broccoli, Thai Chicken with Snow PeasStir-fried Chicken Broccoli MushroomStir-fried Prawns with Vegetables and Oyster SauceGreen Beans with PrawnsPrawns with Asparagus TipsMapo Tofu, Stir-fried Eggs with VegetablesBraised Shiitake MushroomsSteamed Potatoes, Potato Curry with TamarindBraised Bean Curd and Vegetables, Spinach and Pumpkin, Chinese Garlic Broccoli, Spicy Cauliflower, Cabbage / Green Peas in Coconut MilkThai Eggplant CurryStir-fried Snake Beans and Cashews, and Bean Curd with Peanuts / Peas. These are just some of my favorite dishes. There are a lot more and the list is unending (Do you know that these dishes can cost you a fortune in the restaurants?). If I am on diet, I will eat salads. Some of my favorite salads are Vietnamese Salmon SaladAvocado Corn Salad, Avocado Tuna Salad, Broccoli Cauliflower Salad, Creamy Broccoli Apple Salad, Chicken and Cucumber / Cabbage Salad, Red Cabbage Salad with Apple, and Hot and Sour Prawn Salad. I love good food but I suppose I am the only food connoisseur who seldom eats in restaurants. Why?

I am sure many of us still remember what happened nearly two years ago when the workers at Raj's Banana Leaf restaurant in Bangsar used dirty pothole water to wash dishes. Or perhaps Malaysians forgive and forget easily. Well, three months ago, a chef at a cafe was filmed using his fingers to taste-test a dish in the kitchen. On 2 June 2018, a video illustrating rats swarming food ingredients in a restaurant kitchen has surfaced on the internet. Did the restaurant owners learn a lesson after that? On 20 February 2020, three dirty restaurants full of rats were ordered to close for 14 days. However, seeing rats running around in the restaurant is nothing compared to eating rats! What about recycled food? What would you do if you find yourselves eating recycled food? Please read Beware mamak shops selling "recycled" curry and Restoran Mamak di Kulai Jaya Basuh Makanan Untuk Dimasak Semula dengan Kuah Baru (which means Mamak Restaurant in Kulai Jaya washed and re-cooked leftovers). Recently, a video entitled lebihan sisa makanan orang tak habis dicuci dicampur dimasak semula, kedai mamak (which means "mamak restaurant cooking recycled food from customers' plates") has gone viral and I find this video very disturbing. You can watch this video here. These are just some of the more recent dirty restaurant cases in Malaysia. You can always find more on the internet.

A crow infested outdoor kitchen of a mamak restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (Photo source: Miscellaneous Information Website). Luckily bird flu is not so common nowadays.

I thought that only the poorest people in the Philippines eat pagpag but it seems that Malaysians are also eating this Filipino delicacy in the restaurants. What is pagpag? Pagpag, in Tagalog, means leftover food from restaurants scavenged from dumps and garbage. The food is then washed, cooked and sold to the poor. It is okay if the customers choose to eat pagpag because they want to save money but serving them pagpag without their knowledge and charging exorbitant prices for the recycled food is really too much. It should be noted that eating pagpag is bad for health as it can lead to stunted growth in children, food poisoning, and diseases such as Hepatitis A, cholera, and typhoid.

Do Malaysians mind eating dirty foods? Well, they do not care about the things that they cannot see. Perhaps, they don't mind as long as they have a place to lepak (hang around). When they see a rat scurrying by, they will put their feet up and squeal but after a few minutes, they cannot remember the cute little rodent anymore. That is why the restaurant business is a lucrative business. Many mamak restaurants open as early as 5.30 a.m. and operate until midnight. Sometimes I do wonder why there are so many people hanging around at the eateries late at night when they are supposed to be at home, sleep early, and prepare for work the next day. Is this a healthy habit? Eating a late night dinner is bad for health as it can lead to poor digestion and other gastric issues because the body's metabolism slows down at night. But why do Malaysians love to lepak mamak (hang around in mamak restaurants) until late at night? Perhaps it's not just the food alone as it seems more likely that they are looking for a place to meet up with friends and chat. It is no wonder the eateries have become Covid-19 infection hotspots. The more they interact with each other and the longer the interaction, the higher the risk of Covid-19.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, I have developed a phobia about restaurants. Why? According to the US health authorities, going to restaurants is much more dangerous than working in an office, shopping, or taking public transport. Restaurants are Covid-19 superspreaders because social distancing is almost impossible in the restaurants with the people sitting so close to each other without masks. Even before their food is ready, they have already taken off their masks and are busy chatting with each other. Once they start chatting, they tend to forget about social distancing. As though 4 people per small table are not enough, they have to combine the tables and chat in groups. Under such circumstances, a social distance of 1m is not possible - 0.5m or less is more likely. That is one reason why the Covid-19 cases are soaring. Each time I see people eating and chatting happily in the restaurants, I feel very worried about Covid-19. To stop restaurants from driving Covid-19 infections, indoor dining should be banned  and only takeaway food allowed not only during the Movement Control Order (MCO) but until the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

With 5,728 new Covid-19 cases today, perhaps it's time to prioritize home-cooked meals as it is the world's healthiest, safest, and most hygienic meals. Studies have indicated that those who eat home-cooked meals regularly tend to be happier and healthier than those who eat out. They also live longer. Eating home-cooked meals can also boost our immunity and help to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Those on a tight budget will agree that cooking is an important skill for saving money as it helps to cut food spending since restaurant foods are not cheap nowadays. But most of all, there is no need to worry about getting Covid-19 because home is the safest place on earth. With so many new covid cases emerging each day, let us do our part to protect ourselves from the pandemic. Stay safe!




Saturday, January 16, 2021

Migrants stuck in hopeless situation at EU border in Bosnia : who is to blame?

I've just read an article entitled Refugees stuck in hopeless situation at EU border in Bosnia and I am wondering what the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are doing there. When did they become refugees? How do we define "refugees"? According to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a refugee is a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or prosecution. But what kind of danger or prosecution are they trying to escape from? As far as I know, they are only leaving their own countries to look for a better life in other countries. So I consulted the American Heritage Dictionary to get a better definition of this word. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a refugee is one who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution. The question is - are these people at the EU border in Bosnia fleeing from war, political oppression or religious persecution? If they are merely looking for jobs and better living conditions, then "migrants" is a better word for them.

Migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East who are looking for better lives in the EU are stuck in Bosnia-Herzegovina after being pushed back by the Croatian police. It is now winter and they are freezing in the cold weather due to lack of facilities. When a fire broke out in the Lipa Camp, believed to have been started by the migrants themselves, their living conditions deteriorated further. Wrapping themselves in blankets and sleeping bags and surviving on meagre food parcels, their conditions are said to be alarming. A migrant from Pakistan, Kasim, said, "We are living like animals. Even animals are living better than us! If they do not help us, we will die." Who invited them to the EU border? Nobody but themselves. Why burn the camp when they need shelter and create problems for others? To rebuild the Lipa Camp, the EU has been kind enough to allocate an additional £3.5 million to Bosnia and Herzegovina so that these migrants would not be left without shelter during the winter.

To get to the EU border in Bosnia is not cheap as each of these migrants has to pay 7000 euros to the smugglers to get them there. It seems that human smuggling is in great demand today and the smugglers are really making big bucks out of this trade. But why take so much trouble to reach the Bosnia camps and "live like animals"? If the migrants can afford to pay 7000 euros to the smugglers, why not make good use of the money and start a business in their own countries? In this way, they can also contribute towards their countries' progress and economic growth. No, they won't die. All they have to do is to go back to their countries of origin and stop making trouble for the EU especially during the coronavirus pandemic when every country is having its own problems.

What will the EU do to help migrants stranded in Bosnia waiting to cross the border into Croatia? In actual fact, the EU has done a lot for the migrants already and it is unfair to say that they are not doing enough for these people. Despite these hard times, the EU has allocated around £85.5 million to Bosnia to help the migrants at the Bosnian camps even though they are not EU citizens. And £85.5 million is a lot of money to spend on the migrants at a time when the citizens of the EU countries are suffering because of the pandemic. To be fair, this significant amount of money should be paid by the migrants' countries of origin and NOT the EU. Why should the EU support these migrants? The EU taxpayers' money should be spent on the EU taxpayers and not migrants from other countries. 

It should be noted that the EU is not a dumping ground for refugees and migrants. They have their limits and the world cannot expect them to take in everyone who wishes to achieve their EU dream. Perhaps the EU should stop supporting the migrants and see what happens next. These migrants are smart people - they will flee immediately when there is no food and shelter so there is no need to worry about them. They won't die. If they cannot enter the EU, they will find a new target, perhaps the US or Canada this time. For years, the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis have been targeting Malaysia. Ever since Malaysia began to curb foreign workers and the influx of illegal immigrants, the EU has become their new target! That is why there are so many of them at the EU border in Bosnia now.

I am writing this article because I really feel sad for the EU countries as they are struggling with a surge of Covid-19 cases and the situation is getting worse. As of today, the number of confirmed covid cases in Germany increased by 18,678 to 2.04M and its death toll rose by 980 to 47,121. France's covid toll has passed 70,000 with the number of confirmed covid cases increased by 21,406 to 2.89M. Italy's toll has already passed 80,000 with the number of confirmed cases increased by 15,446 to 2.37M. As recession deepens, triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the EU countries are being burdened with the migrants. How sad! With so many people dying, out of work, and homeless during this pandemic, the EU's priority should be their own citizens and not migrants from other countries who are taking advantage of their generosity. Perhaps it is time for countries like China, Korea, Japan, as well as the rich Gulf countries to share the burden of the global refugee / migrant crisis.

Should the large influx of migrants into the EU countries be encouraged? Throughout the years, the EU has been taking in lots of refugees and because of that, migrants who want better living conditions also take this opportunity to seek asylum in the more affluent EU countries. What will happen if the EU starts taking in all the migrants at its borders? Needless to say, this will certainly lead to a mass exodus of millions of migrants with their families to the EU. If one million migrants make it to the EU, another million will follow and this will continue indefinitely.  When this happens, the EU will have to deal with population explosion as these people are breeding at high speed. What will become of the EU following a mass exodus of the migrants? Can anyone imagine Paris turning into a Bangladesh City or Frankfurt turning into a Pakistan City? It is possible when there are too many migrants in the country (Please read Tourist icon in peril: “Truly Asia” Chinatown or Bangladesh town?).

With the exodus of migrants to the EU, crime is inevitable as it is impossible to do a background check on them. Further, they may not be telling the truth about themselves as they often lie about their names, ages, and countries of origin. If these migrants could behave like hooligans and burnt their camp at a time when they were freezing and needed shelter in order to pressure the EU to take them in, what is it that they dare not do? The destruction of the Moria Camp in Greece by fire which the migration minister of Greece believed "began with the asylum seekers" is just another example of how violent the migrants can turn out to be. So, is it safe to take them in? However, they finally got what they wanted when the prime minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, offered to take in 1000 refugees after the camp was destroyed. 

The Bangladeshis' fake passport business. In this photo, you can see fake passports from various countries (Photo source: Kementerian Dalam Negeri, KDN).

What can the migrants do to the EU? Since Malaysia is home to 1,000,000 Bangladeshis (as of 2018) and more than 100,000 Pakistanis, let me share some of the things that they have done to Malaysia. The Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are professionals when it comes to producing forged immigration documents such as fake passports and fake work permits. And they are doing a lucrative business here charging RM150 for each fake passport and RM300 for each fake work permit. They are also selling fake Covid-19 test results. Surely, they can make lots of money if they carry out this kind of business in the EU! When it comes to rape, the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are certainly not exempted (Rape: Pakistani charged). Even children and the handicapped are not spared. Please read Three Pakistani men, Bangladeshi national charged with raping, sexually assaulting 11-year-old girlBangladeshi man detained on suspicion of raping handicapped girl; and Bangladeshi caught raping teen in cybercafe toilet. Sometimes, the victim is killed after being raped (Pakistanis detained over rape, murder in Malaysia). The same applies to murder as it is as popular as rape. Please read 12 Bangladeshi men held for murder at vegetable farmBangladeshi wanted over Nepali roommate murder; and Pakistani charged with killing US pastor in Malaysia. It is not uncommon for the Bangladeshis to kill their own people over trifles (Please read Killed over kuih: Bangladeshi trader charged with murder and Bangladeshi sent to gallows over housemate's murder). What is even worse is that after entering the country illegally, they still have the guts to kill, dismember the corpse and dispose it (Bangladeshis rounded up over grisly murder charged with illegal entry). And of course kidnapping cannot be omitted since it is a lucrative business. Please read Malaysian Police Raid Targets Bangladeshi Kidnapping RingMalaysia busts group of Pakistani kidnappersFive Pakistanis charged with kidnapping; and Five Pakistanis charged with kidnapping pensioner, one claims trial to sodomy. Do they come to Malaysia to work / study or sell drugs? Please read Bangladeshi student nabbed for peddling ganja at private universityPolice arrest Bangladeshi man on New Year's Eve for allegedly trafficking drugsPakistani drug mule nabbed with 19 packets of heroin in stomach22 Pakistanis arrested in Malaysia drug raid and Malaysia nabs two Pakistanis with heroin worth $36M. OMG! The list is unending. And one more thing - just google "Bangla suka kacau bini orang" which means "Bangladeshis like to disturb people's wives" and you will find many articles, videos, and even Facebooks about this issue (in Malay). Please click here to watch the video of a Bangladeshi man being beaten up for disturbing somebody's wife (You may also like to read 'I will kill you, I'm from Afghanistan!').

In Sweden, the murder rate has quadrupled due to migration. It has the worst rape conviction record in Europe and the number of rapes has also quadrupled in the past 20 years. And what's more, most of the country's convicted rapists are foreign-born. In Austria, there was a staggering 133% increase in the number of sexual assaults committed by migrants in 2016 and most of the suspects were from Afghanistan. In 2017, there had been 447 killings and murders by asylum seekers and refugees in Germany. Last year, there was an alarming increase of rape cases in Berlin and nearly half of the suspects were migrants. In Italy, the Nigerian mafia are smuggling drugs and trafficking women, deploying them as prostitutes on the streets of Italy. According to Finland's leading newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, "Finland is one of the least safe countries in Europe for women." Reported cases of rape committed by immigrants, mostly from the Middle East and Northern Africa, are about eight times higher than that of native Finnish people. 

Many of us can never forget what happened in Cologne, Germany, during the 2015-2016 New Year's Eve Celebration. While everyone was waiting for the New Year to start, more than 1200 women were sexually assaulted, raped, and mobbed by North African and Arab asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. 3% of these perpetrators were unaccompanied refugee minors. Even a policewoman was sexually assaulted. These Arab and North African young men surrounded the women, groped their breasts and buttocks, put their hands in their pants or underneath their skirts, introduced their fingers in vaginas, went through handbags, robbed, molested and raped them. They also harassed passers-by and went around stealing mobiles phones, jewelry, and wallets. According to Holger Munch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon  and the rapid migration in 2015." The shocking truth was - half of the New Year's Eve perpetrators identified had arrived in Germany in 2015. Is that the way refugees and migrants repay their host countries? In Frankfurt last July, groups of young men were seen attacking the police and the majority of these rioters were immigrants. 

How much can we trust the migrants? Are they telling the truth about their backgrounds or merely lying through their teeth to get asylum status and gain access to the benefits that come with it? In October 2016, Hussein Khavari, who claimed to have come from Afghanistan, raped, strangled, and drowned a 19-year-old medical student from Freiburg, Maria L. Ladenburger. And he knew that she was alive when he drowned her in the Dreisam River. Hussein Khavari, who arrived in Germany without identification documents, had earlier been convicted of attempted murder in Greece for robbing a woman and pushing her off a cliff. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released after 18 months on parole on 31 October 2015 due to overcrowding in the prisons. He fled to Germany via Austria the following month and since he claimed that he was 17, he was taken in as an unaccompanied minor and was placed with a foster family. However, evidence that has emerged during his rape and murder trial in Germany has shown that he is actually from Iran and could be more than 30 years old. Each time I watch videos about migrants at the EU border in Bosnia, I couldn't help wondering how many of them are walking in the footsteps of Hussein Khavari. Given the fact that accepting refugees and migrants can lead to insecurity, crime, and decadence, the EU should really tighten its border controls (To find out more about what the migrants have done in Europe, please read Migrants and Crime in Europe in the Twenty-First Century).

Those who want to work or study in the EU should enter the EU legally instead of trying to sneak across the borders. According to 25-year-old Raheel Zafar, a migrant from Karachi, Pakistan, he has attempted to walk from Bosnia to Croatia six times but was stopped, beaten, and robbed by the Croatian police at the border each time. Can he blame the Croatian police for that? Every country has the right to defend its borders. Even North Korea has issued shoot-to-kill orders at the Chinese border to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, may countries have imposed entry bans for travelers and his act of sneaking into the EU clearly shows how selfish he is. Who knows, he might be carrying the new strain of Covid-19 and this could endanger the lives of the EU citizens.  Whatever the situation may be, it is illegal to enter Croatia without permission and Zafar should be thankful that the Croatian police did not shoot-to-kill. Although he couldn't see any future in Pakistan, this is not an excuse for him to cross the border into Croatia illegally. Ashfaq Ahmed, from Kashmir, Pakistan, who dreams of studying medicine in Germany, said that they are not animals and the Lipa Camp is no place to live. Well, what he should do is to go back to Pakistan and apply for medical university in Germany. If his application is approved, he can enter Germany legally and there is no need for him to live in the Lipa Camp. Can anyone imagine what will happen if everyone who wants to study medicine in Germany sneaks into Croatia with the intention to claim asylum in Germany? 

The EU countries may be very generous but taking in all the migrants at its borders is not the solution to the migrant crisis as more and more will be flocking to these countries. In the end, the EU citizens will suffer the adverse consequences brought to them by the migrants. Putting pressure on the EU to take in migrants is therefore a great injustice especially at a time when Europe is plunged into a deep covid recession. The best solution is for  the migrants' countries of origin to take responsibility for them instead of kicking the ball to the EU. If there are problems in the migrants' countries, then these problems should be solved within the country so that the people can have better lives instead of victimizing the EU. 

Illegal border crossings should not be encouraged as migrants can create a lot of problems for their host countries. In countries with lots of migrants, rising crime rates are inevitable. Life may also be more difficult for the local citizens as they have to compete with the migrants for food, water, shelter, and jobs. During the coronavirus pandemic, migrants bring viral infections with them thus increasing the risk of Covid-19 transmission. For instance, the Filipinos and Indonesians sneaking into Sabah during the coronavirus pandemic have caused a Covid-19 spike in Malaysia from 1 case on 1 July 2020 to 4,029 cases on 16 January 2021 (Please read ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A HUGE THREAT TO MALAYSIA'S CORONAVIRUS WAR). 

What can be done to stop illegal border crossing? In Singapore, the punishment for illegal immigration are a prison sentence of up to 6 months and not less than 3 strokes of the cane or a fine of not more than $6000 if the perpetrator cannot be caned. That is why no one dares to overstay their permitted time in Singapore. If only the EU could emulate Singapore, they would have no more problems!  


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References:
1.  Refugees stuck in hopeless situation at EU border in Bosnia. dw.com.
2.  'We will die': Hundreds of refugees freezing in Bosnia Camp. Al Jazeera.
3.  EU allocates additional £3.5m for refugees and migrants in Bosnia. Europost.
4.  EU officials call for humane conditions for migrants at Bosnian camps. dw.com.
5.  A refugee crisis  brews in Bosnia's bitter winter. Al Jazeera.
6.  2000 men 'sexually assaulted 1200 women' at Cologne New Year's Eve Party. Independent.
7.  Afghan migrant convicted of killing German medical student. The Seattle Times.
8.  Germany: Frankfurt reaches a 'new level of violence' as migrants riot, hurl stones at police. Remix.