happy malaysia day!

first time we celebrate in solidarity with sabah and sarawak!

was at the sape tour last night. enjoyed myself very much. busy photographing as bk ong appointed me to be the official photographer (though i’m very amateur where camera is concerned). please see all the photos at my facebook album.

i will do a short write up about the event later, as now just need to get the pictures up and the wish up (already bit too late).

this is the first year we are having malaysia day as public holiday so let’s made the most of it by remembering our brothers and sisters in sabah and sarawak.  as i can’t have my brief write-up yet, i’m copying an artice about what our CM said from malaysiakini here. please click on ‘read more’ to read. it’s so true what the heading speak of – ‘fairness long overdue to sabah and sarawak’. you should have heard what one sarawakian said in this event something about sarawak rich state but the people poorest.

UPDATED (brief write-up)

the event was held at the balcony of d’space – an open space over-looking the lovely coastal sea scenery. many people were seen taking photos of the lovely sights.  it was indeed a good place to hold the event with nature surrounding us – sky, stars, moon, sea – and traffic! since it was at the 5th floor, traffic noise was not a disturbance. people were seating on stools, benches and some on the floor. several were standing around too. there were near 100 people present.

as i have to take photos (bk ong appointed me ‘official’ photographer) i did not choose to sit but stand (and walk) around, though of course towards the end, i did sit (cannot stand so long standing of course).

andre loh, a church friend, got the event started by strumming on his guitar and leading the people into joining him with a song… er… forgot… think it was ‘heal the world’ or something else. anyway, later, during some interval, he also lead the people to sing other solidarity songs like john lennon’s ‘imagine’ and ‘an american dream’ (one of my favourite song!) which he change to ‘malaysian dream’.  the people were lively and sporting as they joined in the singing.

the first band to go up to sing were 3 youngsters who called themselves ‘waduh waduh’.  second band up was ‘the soviet’.   i like this band as they sang songs about democracy and human rights. they performed once at speakers square.  the spokesman of the band… like many of us, spoke on how pissed off they were of the government (at least it sounded like that to me).  he is a malay himself (all of them are) and he said “apa bumiputera! semua bohong.”

next up was the band with the weird name ‘doesn’t matter’. one of them explained that once they were asked why their band doesn’t have a name and they said “it doesn’t matter” – that was how they adopted the name! the band apart from the usual guitarist, consists of a  man who played the harmonica and a man who played the  saxophone.

the other band just called themselves “1300”. hmm… all the bands have weird names eh – waduh waduh, the soviet, doesn’t matter , 1300. oh ‘the soviet’ said they don’t have a name actually and they simply pick one first as a temporary name only.  after all the bands played, it was the highlight of the day – performance from the sarawakians. there were four of them – two playing the musical instrument and two, a man and a woman, dancing (individually).

after their performance, a DJ from ‘silent keat electronic trio’ in KL entertained us with his fusion music.

in between the bands playing, a spokesman of the sarawakian (didn’t get his name, i think he is a lawyer) spoke about the situation of the sarawak people. he said although sarawak is the richest state but the people are the third poorest. “we are sitting on a gold mine, but the gold was snatched away from us.” he said, “so help us to get back sarawak. if we win sarawak, putrajaya will automatically be won.” he said to thunderous applause.

a reporter from sarawak, francis siah, who spoke at the end also talked in some similiar vein but he concentrate on the ‘white-hair devil’ (this is my own words, not him!) – sarawak’s CM, but he gave him a name ‘tear him silly’ in play with the CM’s ‘tan sri’ title – tan sri = tear him silly, see. he said that penang has a new government. since march 8, 2008 and he hope that penang people will help the sarawakian to “get rid of the termite” and let sarawak by aug. 2011, get a new government too.

there was a count-down to malaysia day with two local guitarists joining in with the ‘sape’ guitarist. everybody also joined in, with some joining in the ‘ngajet’ dance and some blowing horns, whistles, or using some other stuffs (susan loone used 2 alumininum cans and i spy one young man using a beer bottle with a stick) to made noises. two young girls were busy blowing bubbles.  the few of us remaining for the count-down had lots of fun. (many had left after the performance by the sarawakians).

well today, these same sarawakians will be at the annexe central market, so if you are in KL, do go there, ok.

note: you can also read something abut this event at facebook event.

Malaysiakini

Sept 15, 10 5.09 pm

Guan Eng: Fairness long overdue to Sabah, Sarawak

After 47 years, the natural wealth of Sabah and Sarawak has been neither fairly nor properly distributed, leaving much of its population in abject poverty.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng highlighted this stark reality in a message ahead of Malaysia Day tomorrow.

“On one hand, there are those from the peninsula fighting to preserve and defend the ‘special rights’ of the bumiputeras, which they consider as their sovereign and incontestable rights,” said Lim.

“But at the same time, these so called ‘fighters’ have ignored the plight of Sabahans and Sarawakians deprived of the same rights, despite being sons and daughters of the soil.” 

Lim said the DAP believes in equal rights for all, although it also respects the provisions of the federal constitution protecting bumiputera rights.

“The federal government must not neglect Sabah and Sarawak. It must ensure that they enjoy the same opportunities in education, employment, investment and business as the peninsula states do,” he said.

He hit out at those who want to remove the special rights accorded to Sabah and Sarawak under the federation agreement.

If we want Sabahans and Sarawakians to get rid of their parochial state-centric attitude, we in the peninsula too need to stop being parochial and stop looking down at them,” he added.

“When all sides agree to discard the notion of fighting only for one race or state and embrace a culture of openness to each other’s views, only then can we truly be the single entity of Malaysia.”

MCA president, Dr Chua Sooi Lek agreed with some of these views in his message, saying Malaysians must not be afraid to remind themselves of past mistakes. 

One such mistake has been to ignore fellow-citizens in Sabah and Sarawak.

“It is this large group of Malaysians from the two states that we sometimes forget. It is not only the Malays, Chinese and Indians but our brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak who make up the voices of Malaysia,” said Chua.

He said the hopes and aspirations of all Malaysians must be given recognition and that no one should be left out.

Malaysians should not tolerate racism which is becoming more rampant, and which should be avoided at all costs, he said.

“No matter what, Malaysia must continue to stay intact as a nation which thrives on merit, hard work and togetherness,” he added.

‘Tackle problems immediately’

Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said problems that stand in the way of unity can no longer be ignored.

“We can no longer sweep things under the carpet. Every problem must be tackled immediately,” Khalid said in his statement.

This requires transparency and accountability in reforming bureaucracy, and ensuring economic discipline toward better administration, so that the fruits of the economy can be shared fairly.

“I believe that Malaysians are now mature enough to democratically evaluate and filter the issues which plague our society. With this newfound maturity we must engage peacefully in order to find solutions,” he added.

The federation of Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963 to bring together Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. 

However, Singapore pulled out of the grouping two years later, citing political differences.