date:  2 september (sunday) 2007
time:  7.30pm
venue: in penang. enquire from aliran for the exact venue
cost:  RM60 per ticket
in performance: the instant cafe theatre company  with patrick teoh, edwin sumun and nell ng.
contact: aliran, tel. 04-6585251

should have informed this earlier but forgot. never mind, i’m sure there are still tickets available. contact aliran and find out ok. more information can also be found at bangkit.net.

of course i am going. my office took up one table, so 10 of us staff will be there (i got to attend free, see courtesy of my office!). i am looking forward to the performance of the instant cafe theatre. read and heard so much of it but haven’t seen their performance before. it would be good to see patrick teoh in action live, other than just reading his two blogs, niameh and tokkok. you are going to laugh yourselves silly with the instant cafe theatre, so why not come and enjoy yourselves at the same time support aliran,

regular visitors would have notice that lately after each of my post, i ended with ‘apa ertinya 50 tahun merdeka?’ (translation: what is the meaning of 50 years of merdeka?).  this phrase came from a plantation worker in one of the estate in sg siput, perak, that i and friends from my church had interviewed. we interviewed them about their plight, of which they told us they had been fighting for their rights for more than 20 years and one of them said "apa ertinya 50 tahun merdeka bila pekerja-pekerja masih diabaikan?" (translation: what is the meaning of 50 years of merdeka when workers are still ignored?).

UMNOnised - add a pinch of race and religon, top up with islamisation, sprinkle with may 13 and stir with a keris. serve with no apology.

this (above) was my answer to walski’ question on facebook  - "If you were to name a cocktail in honor of the coming Golden Jubilee of Merdeka, what woud you call it? And what would it consist of (optional answer)?"

what about you? what kind of cocktail can you come out with?

APA ERTINYA 50 TAHUN MERDEKA?

yesterday i CnP an article from the catholic asian news. - a view from a young man, and now read a view from a veteran. the writer here, k. george - name is familiar. i think he had written to malaysiakini a few times.

———————————————-
Catholic Asian News
August 2007

(Veteran unionist, writer and citizen K. George recalls the old days and asks…..)

My Dear Malaysia – What Has Become Of You?
 
Colonial Days

as a run-down to our golden merdeka this friday, i will be posting articles from our catholic magazine, catholic asian news that touch on merdeka. i had already posted ‘50 years of isalmisation‘ on 2 aug., and here now is a view from a young man, colin nunis.

——————————————
Catholic Asian News
August 2007

MALAYSIA – The Next 50 Years

Pass the Baton

yeah i was wondering about this after i read in elizabeth wong’s blog about how suaram director, dr kua kia soong was denied entry into sarawak because his mykad contain information that he had been blacklisted for his involvement in anti-logging activities. oh, and his mykad also tells on him that he was a former member of parliament.

since it is said mykad contain an entire dossier about you, who knows one of the info might be "this person is a goblok blogger". you know how it is now with the government’s ‘anti-bloggers’ attitude, this might be possible!

note: for the fun of it, why don’t you try out the mykad generator?

in the light of the ‘desecration of the image of the sacred heart of jesus’ controversy by the tamil daily, makkal osai, i would like to post here the consecration prayer to the sacred heart of jesus, a prayer which we prayed during mass on every first friday of the month (the first friday is devoted to the sacred heart). also today being a sunday… prayer time!

i feel the prayer is meaningful in this time. i have highlight some points which i feel relevant.

——————-
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

from malaysiakini, extract:

When contacted, Makkal Osai general manager SM Periasamy said the
letter noted that the publication of the image was inappropriate and
could endanger public order.

"We will be appealing to the government. It was a genuine mistake on
our part and we have apologised to all parties," he said.

[...]

"We apologised to everyone concerned. The Catholic Church accepted our apology. Others too accepted our explanation," he said.

They wrote an apology to Murphy Pakiam, Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, which they said he accepted.

Pressure from rivals

Periasamy added that he was upset with the role played by MIC and rival daily Tamil Nesan in pressuring the ministry to act against his daily.

"On the very next day, MIC Youth submitted a memo calling for our banning. A party member lodged a police report against us and party leaders started criticising us over the image," he said.

"And Tamil Nesan too played its role by instigating anger towards us," he charged.

Periasamy also claimed that Tamil Nesan had also committed the same offence by reproducing the image in their stories, especially in their northern region editions. Tamil Nesan is owned by MIC president and Works Minister S Samy Vellu’s family.

"If that’s the case, they too should be punished," he said.

(read the full article of malaysiakini from my mentaljog extra.)

yeah, why be selective? why punish makkal osai and not tamil nesan, whiich is OWNED by SAMY VELU?? and heard down the grapevine too, will the govt. (the internal security ministry) punish the paper if it is a malay daily??? just look at namewee’s case alone, and you’ll get the answer (he had veen vilified by harian metro and later on utusan… or was it berita hairan, try to incite some racial sentiments regarding his other rap ‘kawanku’ - nothing happens to them).

oh, do hop on to malaysiakini to read the many letters in support of makkal osai.

to show your support, have the button created by bob on your blog.

—–

APA ERTINYA 50 TAHUN MERDEKA??… when the govt. is still practising double standards and hypocrisy.

remember the port klang assemblyman and councillor who build a mansion without permission? all 37 charges against him had been dropped!! yep, you heard me right. dropped!! just like that! god help us!!

i first knew of it through jeff ooi’s blog, then later on at aisehman’s. (2 of my top 10 favourite blogs).

Mozni Sham Ahmad and Joseph R. Samuel who appeared for Zakaria, his partners and the two companies said the charges were withdrawn because the “outstanding problems had been settled”.