The Great British Invention

Mr Brookes asked an interesting question to the class this morning. Today we discussed in general the difference between the three main totalitarian regimes. As usual, Ting was leading the pact in bombarding him with questions and ideas for his consideration. The rest just listened intently and occasionally nodded in agreement. The two periods of History was beginning to feel like a drag when suddenly Mr Brookes asked this question:

"Who first invented concentration camps?" The class was silent for a moment.

Any normal student with a considerable amount of knowledge in History would most probably suggest one of the three countries. Even Ting did.

"Stalin's Russia?"

"Um...Mussolini?"

It's Hitler's Germany, right?" Someone suggested. He seemed like he was full of confidence.

Mr Brookes just grinned. And then came his reply.

"Nope. It's Great Britain. Hooray! Concentration camps are a proud invention of the British people." Believe me, the sarcasm really came out of the blue.

He later went on to explain to the anticipating class how they were first invented. During the Boer War (1880-1881), British soldiers had captured about 28000 Boer women and children and kept them in a large concentration camp and held them as hostages so that the men would obey to the rulers (the Brits). Some of the people who were held captive did not survive the poor conditions of the camp and the harsh treatment they received. Some even suffered from diseases and died.

Oh, I didn't know that.

"Another great British invention is the antrax virus. We are the ones who first introduced biological warfare!" he added. A burst of laughter soon followed his sarcasm. "Oh, we also had our share in inventing the world's first atomic bomb. So there you have it. We're quite advanced in that sense."

What a great way of looking at the world.

And of course, among other great inventions of Great Britain include Oxford and Cambridge University.

My interview will be conducted tomorrow at Help College, Damansara. Apparently, I had to leave the college at 6.30am because the 11am trip will be full of quarantined applicants. Right. But my interview starts at 1.50pm! It doesn't really make sense now, does it? Guess I'll just hang around and read some stuff while waiting for my turn.