There were a few prominent individuals at the festival. At least, the ones that I recognized. Some are friends while others, while, I’d like to know them more closely due to their interesting character.

The most respectable there was probably the celebrated sasterawan negara, A. Samad Said.

The Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera, Penang was there.

Friend and the youngest candidate for the previous general election, Nik Nazmi Assemblyman for Seri Setia, Selangor was there.

Kam Raslan was there.

I honestly can’t remember her name.

Amir Muhammad!

Eli the Amazon warrior the Assemblywoman for Bukit Lanjan, Selangor was there. So was Nat.

Nat is supposed to blog here. But he hasn’t posted anything here yet. For that, I think I’m entitled to post this up here for the world to see. Hey, hello Philly!

Sharon and Marina were there.

And the controversial Astora Jabat was there too.

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.

Update: Exact route is now known!

Thanks to information collected by KL for a Free Tibet (whom the author is yours truly; yeah, I’m thanking myself…), we now have some idea of the route for the Olympic Torch Relay, which was supposed to be kept secret:

A series of protests sympathetic to Tibet (as well as, surprisingly, for Darfur and Falungong) are expected to be seen along the route. I’ll be at the Merdeka Square at noon to record it and I hope to follow the torch all the way to the Twin Towers. The relay itself will start at 14:00 hours at Dataran Merdeka.

Damn. I gotta be in shape.

From the official site:

Spot the mistakes.

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.

The Gurney station was unexciting. There were some flags flying, a cafe right outside the station for a decent typical KL breakfast but that was about it. The crowd was pretty mild.

So, I decided to drive to Pasar Keramat and see what was going there. While the traffic to Gurney was smooth, the journey to Pasar Keramat caused my blood pressure to rise up slightly. The streets were congested: congestion is indeed typical around Pasar Keramat no thanks to it sitting on the veins that connect the northeast part of KL to the city center as well as the bad traffic flow planning there there but the election made it worse.

Being a local, I knew which route to take to outsmart the traffic and I found myself in front of the Pasar Keramat station in no time.

Unlike at Gurney, the booths of the BN and PAS were erected side by side.

What? Looks empty you say?

Just to the right:

They were shouting various slogans until a police officer requested them to tone down. The BN team was quiet, probably since they know Keramat is not one of those areas which BN could call it a stronghold.

Some took the campaigning to the middle of the street.

Anwar Ibrahim was also there…:

The BN candidate, Aziz Jamaludin casted his vote at here.

He is the guy in blue shirt with a songkok on.

Close to 1PM, it started to drizzle and so, I went home.

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!

I’ve heard of flash mob before but I had never seen it, until today. The objective: to express displeasure against the mainstream media. Just by luck, Mr. Haris Ibrahim is running a cyber-campaign to boycott the mainstream paper. Coincidence?

Hmm….

In between Mr. Haris’ encouragement for a boycott, a stranger posted something about having a flash mob on Mr. Haris’ blog. Mr. Haris wasted no time to publicize it and that was how I found out about the flash mob planned at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers.

And having little to do on that day, I decided to check it out.

At 15:00, the scene was typical of a Malaysian shopping complex. People moving around, doing their own business.

(more…)

The Bar Council planned to celebrate the human rights day this Sunday in a grand way. There was to be a walk from one place on one side of the Merdaka Square to the other side up to Central Market. Later, there were to be shows and discussion at Central Market. Alas, amid threats from the government, first, the walk was canceled. Later, the activities at Central Market have been moved indoor within the confine of the Bar Council’s wall.

Wait…

What is the Bar Council celebrating again?