Archive for September, 2008

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Quo vadis Malaysia?

September 12, 2008

I am terribly upset! Teresa Kok has just been arrested under the ISA. So too the Sin Chew reporter and RPK. Where is the justice in this? What is their crime? I don’t even know if this is will be the end of the arrests. It’s barely been 3 hours since the cops came knocking on Teresa’s door.

These arrests will go down in history as Ops Lalang 2. I anxiously hope that we will not be witnessing another May 13. Every move, from Ahmad Ismail’s statements, Malaysia Today’s ban, the manufactured lie about Teresa Kok silencing the prayers at the mosque in Kota Damansara, the show cause letter to the 3 papers, to the 3 ISA arrests, appear almost a deliberate coordinated effort to incite racial tensions and instil fear in the Malaysian public.

I am so pissed off, as I am sure many others too. But although we must fight this injustice for a better Malaysia, I know that responding in anger/rage is the very thing that the engineers of the current situation want. Regardless, I anticipate a spin on the reactions tomorrow such that would justify further clamping down on the very freedoms I believe are necessary for providing us the space and opportunities to air our opinions and grievances, to listen, to interact, and to learn from and about each other.

Quo vadis Malaysia? I do not know. I have been having my doubts about God but I sure hope everything I have held on dear to is true. For if it doesn’t, I fail to see what greater purpose may prevail. Nevertheless, I will make my stand. The story does not end here. Friends, stand with me, stand with Malaysia. We are better than this. We deserve better.

Yours in hope of a better tomorrow,

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on a train

September 1, 2008

I almost burst out laughing after watching this on the flight home. Barnabas Toth manages to capture the European rail experience very very well. Travelling long distances on the train, you’ll spend a lot of time with your cabin-mates and it certainly helps if you both speak the same language :)