With all the rumors and hypes, I thought Sunday should be one of those days when history is written in the most dramatic manner. With talks of army on the streets, road blocks almost to the proportion of Bersih rally, police threats and the boast of expected one million attendees, the event turned out to be quite a dull affair.

I was filled with excitement at the prospect of a state of emergency or a military coup d’tat. Nat’s appeal only fueled my expectation of “something big” would be happening.

Today however, July 6, was sort of kiddies stuff which definitely unworthy of my time. I should have stayed at home and play Civilization 4 instead. But there I was and this is a story of how I spent my dull Sunday’s evening.

In fact, it is so dull that I’ll just let the pictures tell you what happened.

Okay, it was noisy from the outside and I thought there were many people. Of course, I didn’t expect one million turn out because the organizer has a knack for exaggeration but I did expect the number to match Bersih. So, I was all excited. Still, the compound looked nothing compared to Titiwangsa Lake Garden on a weekend.

“Wow. They have a stage!”, I yelled to my imaginary friends.

And then I saw the crowd. “Is this a revolution?” Clearly, an oversize party on a Sunday’s evening but nothing inspiring. Hell, all that commies talk made the event less inspiring but I did prepare myself for those leftist propaganda but I was shocked at the disappointing turnout.

Or maybe, being a libertarian and unimpressed with socialism, I am biased and critical of the gathering because there were actually more people around.

Yup. Add another 10s to the equation and you get the amount of people there, which at maximum was definitely 1,000,000 minus 999,999 people. Okay, not quite but I’m sure that you get the idea.

The protest was so uninspiring — did I tell you earlier that it was boring? &mdash that a guy could lay down on oh so sexily.

Maybe it was just me. Maybe I came at the wrong time. Reports have it that there were 10,000 earlier in the morning.

But I sort of told myself, the number should swell when Anwar Ibrahim comes. At first, the organizer said the man would show up after Maghrib. That probably meant 20:00. Then the organizer said the man would show up after Isyak. That probably meant 21:00.

But I told myself, screw it. I am going home. Besides, the populist speeches were starting to get on nerve.

The rumor mills are on overdrive with steroid added on top of it when the army are seen patrolling the streets of KL. Nik Nazmi reports that he saw military personnel dominating the scene of Kelana Jaya, the area where a huge gathering is scheduled to be held tomorrow. Anwar Ibrahim is rumored to make a very important announcement during that gathering.

Earlier, Anwar Ibrahim promised Malaysia with a new government by Malaysia Day, September 16. The government of the day is definitely worried about it. Meanwhile, the credibility of Anwar Ibrahim is on the line if he fails to make good of this promise. The gathering tomorrow may have something to do with the promise.

But we will never know for sure.

Meanwhile, Nat is visibly worried with military presence in the city.

Words on the street have it that an state of emergency might be declared tomorrow, depending on what kind of announcement Anwar will make. The fact that KL Sentral itself had an “emergency drill” last week or so grants the rumor some credibility, if the very visible presence of the military fails to do so.

All in all, like what a friend said to me, it is an exciting time to be a Malaysian.

The haze is coming! The haze is coming! Every man for himself!

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s annual problem of dry weather and hazy skies look to be here again.

A check with the Malaysian Meteorological Services Department revealed 207 hotspots in Sumatra on Sunday, a drop from Saturday’s 372 hotspots in that area.

Peninsular Malaysia had four hotspots, while Borneo had 52.

[...]

According to the Department of Environment website, www.doe.gov.my, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings showed Port Klang’s reading was 100 at about 8pm Sunday.

Other areas with relatively high readings were Taiping (71), Muar (68), Kuala Terengganu (67), Kuala Selangor (63), Ipoh (62), Putrajaya (59), Prai (58) and Kuala Lumpur (55).

API readings of 0 to 50 is good, 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy and above 300 is hazardous. [Get set for hazy skies again. The Star. May 19 2008]

My Facebook looks busy due to various invitation to events related to the ongoing Kuala Lumpur Alternative Book Festival at the Central Market Annexe. Since there are people that actually took the effort to invite me via Facebook, I thought, I might as well give it a visit. Besides, I unfortunately decided not to go to Endau-Rompin with my fellow hikers in the Nature Society. So, my weekends were empty and attending the book fest would be a good way to fill it.

The KLAB, as people are calling it, sells mostly local publications. More importantly, it is held in conjunctions of World Press Freedom Day. But who cares for all that. I was there for the chicks.

My first stop was the Center for Independent Journalism’s exhibition. Guess what are they bitching about? No idea? Let me give you a clue:

Biased MSM.

There was a talk associated with that and Jacky Ann Surin was one of the speakers. She basically repeated her presentation at BUM which was held earlier on Thursday. Oh, didn’t I tell you that I attended the second BUM on Thursday?

The other speaker was Zainon Ahmad, the editor at The Sun.

Next, Faisal launched a BERSIH coffee table book.

I took a lot of shots at the BERSIH rally (here and here as well) and Faisal for some reason like one of it. So, one of my photos is featured in the book and because of that, I got a complementary book. Hurrah!

General scene early on.

Then, it was Farish Noor’s public lecture #2.

Farish: I’M MACHO. LOOK AT ME! ROAR!

OMG! The girl in red is CUTE!

I was there when the relay started at Dataran Merdeka and I was there yet again to witness the torch relay on Jalan P. Ramlee under the heavy rain.

It started quite angrily for me. I had wanted to protest peacefully with no intention to disrupt the relay. Along with me was a camera and a placard with the word “liberty” written on it. Volunteers from China were not happy and forcefully took my placard away after physically harassing me. And so, I found out the hard way how violent these volunteers were. I’ve already described my experience at KL for a Free Tibet (and photos of another protester being harassed by the abrasive volunteers from China; my words there are harsh because I don’t take coercive kindly) and so, I shall refrain from retelling the story here.

But more photos are in order.

I caught a glimpse of the flame. First was at the Dataran Merdaka:

Security was really tight. Apparently, the security personnel were there to protect PRC volunteers, not the Malaysian citizens or everybody at large. While pro-Beijing people were allowed to display their political placards, those sympathetic to Tibet were not. In fact, when the peaceful pro-Tibet protesters were assaulted by the PRC volunteers/thugs, the police arrested the pro-Tibet protesters, not the ones committing the assault. The police did nothing to stop the pro-Beijing thugs from harassing those that disagree with PRC’s policies.

I shouted FREE TIBET when the Torch passed in front of my and was quickly grabbed from behind by a volunteer from the PRC. Mind you, not by a Malaysian police officer but a PRC volunteer instead. I pushed him back and made a complaint to an officer: the officer did nothing however but thanks the heaven that the PRC thug walked off, probably thinking that he might get himself in trouble if he continued to apply force against me in front of police officers, however timid these officers were against these PRC nationals.

Once the Torch left the Dataran Merdeka, I went straight to the Petronas Twin Towers to get another corru board to make a brand new placard just like the one robbed from me by the PRC volunteers.

The previous banner was like this, only prettier since I had time to do it properly:

This one took me less than 10 minutes to complete. That board is about the size of an A3 paper.

It rained after that but the Torch runner went on regardless.

This guy went off the bus to wait from the runner with a lit torch.

Notice the police presence. This must be the most protested Olympics in recent memory.

There were isolated small protests and all of them were forcefully suppressed by PRC volunteers with unsanctioned coercion power. Your truly was one of the victims and he got himself cited in an article in a local daily:

Another scuffle also ensued before the run in Dataran Merdeka when a group of Chinese national students took away a banner emblazoned with the word “Liberty” from a 24-year-old woman known only as Gek.

It was learnt that the group hit Gek’s head at least three times and chanted “One world, one dream, one China”.

The situation was defused when another woman calmed the members down and told them not to create trouble.

It was revealed later that the banner did not belong to Gek, but to Hafiz Noor Shams, 26, who said he came to the torch relay “to witness things”.

Asked on his intentions in bringing such a banner, Hafiz said that it was only a one-word banner.

“But they are free to interpret however they like,” he said, admitting that he was pro-Tibet. [Minor hiccups and a handful of arrests during run. The Star. April 22 2008]

I don’t like like how The Star reported the news. Like what Marina said to me through IM, it is as if I admitted to a crime. But after all, The Star is owned by a local political party, MCA after all. The Star was heavily biased but the recent election was a kick in the groin for them.

In any case, exercising liberty is not a crime. Harassment is.

Others whom plan to protest at other cities should be careful when these PRC volunteers are around. They have no qualm about using force to silent you. These volunteers which lived under suppressed society (Malaysians are suppressed too but at least, we are fighting back) have developed fascist culture of suppression where diversity of opinion are not acceptable. They know nothing about free speech or peaceful expression.

Protest peacefully though. Let teach them a leason or two about the real meaning of peace.

I saw on TV earlier of Buddhist monks protesting against Chinese occupation of Tibet in Nepal. The video clip recorded the Nepali police force dispersing a group of protesting monks by force. Some monks fell on the ground and were hit continuously with baton by the police. Some monks were crying. I’ve never been hit by a baton before but deep in my guts, I felt something uneasy about the whole episode.

The news ended and I switched to another channel just in case if other channels would show the same clip. The clip didn’t reappear but one channel showed the lighting up of the Olympics torch in Greece. Even there, there were protesters but they were treated as if they were dogs.

That makes me angry and I felt, I need to do something.

And I have a perfect idea.

Now, I’d always had the highest regards for the Olympics. It is a symbol of peace, of hope, of humanity unity, a symbol of oneness, of freedom. Too romantics, yes but that is what it means to me. But China grossly mocks it and I won’t take it kindly.

The Olympics Torch will be passing through Kuala Lumpur on April 21 2008. I suggest we, unorganizedly, be at the run and show what freedom means to us. We shall bring banners, fly Tibet flags and support Tibet’s quest for freedom. Let us join the Olympics Torch Relay in KL and indirectly tell China to bugger off from Tibet.

Are you with me?

I’ve created Kuala Lumpur for a Free Tibet blog. As we wait, we can start the protest online.

Kuala Lumpur is now dominated by a loose coalition of DAP, PAS and PKR and it feels great to be able to contribute in kicking BN out of the city.

There is one more way to kick BN even farther: local election!

We want to have a say on how to run our city! We want to elect our own mayor! We don’t want an unaccountable minister to run our lives!

A brand new day perfect for a brand new government! Just perfect of an election!

This is the first election that I am directly participating in as a voter. It is not the first election which I am eligible to vote; that election was the 2004 election. I didn’t vote then because I was in Ann Arbor and voting was a real hassle for me and many other Malaysians there. We would have to travel to Chicago; the distance was a turn off. Anyway, I was more attracted to the US Presidential election rather than the 2004 Malaysian general election. But now, I am back in Malaysia.

I hate lining up and I decided to wake up early today. After having my morning bath, I gathered my cell, mp3 player and camera to record the atmosphere. I took the car and drove it for a short distance to a school off Gurney Road. Yes, there is a Gurney Road in KL. Penang can go to hell.

Polling stations opened at 8AM and I was there at around 9AM and I was surprise to find that the center was not packed at all. The voting process which I had to go through lasted barely 15 minutes and that mostly caused by me walking slowly to observe the surrounding. There were possible 7 streams and my stream had just me in the line. I was listening to the radio on my mp3 player and I found out that voters usually come between 10AM and 1PM. So, I hang around the place, shooting photos.

But Stream 1 and 2 were filled with old people and Stream 7 was mostly young people. Hmm… I wonder why.

The police threw me out because of that. LOL! Kindly of course. It turned out, camera is not allowed here. And the police seemed nervous, which is kind of odd. And thought I was a journalist! LOL! I love my DSLR. I should have made myself a tag and labeled it “KL Metblog”.

So, I walked around to see anything worth shooting. First in my mind was the entrance to the street. It was so full of banners! BN specifically.

And in Jawi! It says Undilah Barisan Nasional.

At the entrance.

The BN booth.

PAS booth. This is situated at the other end of the road and less strategic than that of BN’s.

All in all, the situation was pretty calm and boring. Definitely less exciting than the atmosphere at Pasar Keramat. That is for the next entry!

been to any good pubs in kuala lumpur lately?

well, the latest to open - officially - is the george and dragon over the bangsar shopping centre, up the hill in jalan maarof, bangsar. despite it being an english pub, it is managed by the rather irish finnegans pubs group.
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KL is so much better compared to Penang. But we have to concede: we do not have a coastline and we don’t have the luxury of watching porpoises from our own city.

BALIK PULAU: A pod of six porpoises was spotted in the waters off Penang, about 200m from the shores of Kuala Sungai Burung near Pulau Betong here.

The Star photographer Wan Mohizan Wan Hussein, a part-time fisherman, saw the porpoises as he was testing his boat after some maintenance works at 11.30am yesterday. [Porpoises seen frolicking off Penang. The Star. February 20 2008]