DBKL's Demolition Day

Read here for full report.
Read here for YB Wee Choo Keong's leadup to the demolition, here, here and here.

Fund Raiser at Damansara Village Restaurant

It started as a noble idea to help its own staff and their families, mainly Myanmarese who endured the recent cyclone that claimed no less than 70 thousand lives. Fortunately, the staff of Damansara Village Restaurant were not directly affected by the cyclone, but by then another tragedy had struck China.
Proprietor of the Restaurant, Patrick Teoh had by then met with his employees and it was decided that a nights collection will be set aside in aid of these unfortunate victims. And so the call went out to colleagues and business associates, friends and families, and bloggers, of course.
It turned out pretty good, a total of Rm24, 632.17 was collected on 20th of May 2008.
When asked what was the amount he had hoped to collect, Patrick gave a modest figure of Rm15,000.00. Complements must go the management for not deducting cost for the night.
The food was excellent, so fresh that the prawns was still jumping from the plates.
Such is the fare tha Damansara Village offered.

For a more complete report, do go to Damansara Village's official blog here.

Malaysian Artistes For Unity

The arts scene, Malaysia. Not many make it to the top, and when people do, most are quick to chide them.
Malaysian Artistes for Unity is one project that these 'big' names got in on, and for gratis!
You really do not hear of these things these days! A brainchild of songwriter Pete Teo, Malaysian Artistes for Unity was announced some six weeks ago. A trailer was uploaded on you tube in April, and had gotten some 8000+ views. With some 120 volunteers from all walks of life, and thousands of hours of production, throw in some 16 singers, and 50 odd personalities, and some big name actors and what they got was one fantastic song and video.
The aim of this project, MAFU is to incite the 'one Bangsa Malaysia' goal, something that most Malaysians aspire for, but may have lost the plot. Pete was quick to ward off any complements, asserting that this project is for one for the country. No race, no colour, no religion (not in his own words) but the ultimate goal of bridging these obstacles in this nation we all love.
'Here In My Home' was put together in less then 6 weeks, and is now available for download for FREE (both song and video) from its website.
At the press conference announcing the project and release of both the song and video, Pete Teo (Project Producer), Yasmin Ahmad (Director), Ho Yuhang (Director), Jason Lo , Sandy Monteiro , and Chan Fong was at hand to provide the media with the project brief as well as information that Maxis had agreed to provide free data uploading via its network for its subscribers without charge.
A project by who's who in the Arts, for Malaysians who are keen to bridge the divide is what I will sum this up to be. And I can already see this group of noble artistes going places, perhaps on the next Bangsa Malaysia roadshow.......two have said yes!
Syabas to them, and now lets, see you 'here in my home'!



'Here In My home' video posted in you tube by Yew Tube!

Of Candle Light Vigils and Police Harrassment

Candlelight vigils are held mostly in most parts of the world by civil society, generally without disturbance or violence. However, in Malaysia, mostly, these vigils are often interrupted by the Police. On the 7th of May, outside the Sungai Buluh Prisons, a group opf about 60-80 people were gathered in solidarity with Raj Petra Kamarudin, who was held in remand after his failure to raise bail in his recent charge of sedition by the Malaysian Government. The night passed without any untoward incident, with an address by Selangor State EXCO member YB Ronnie Liu, as well as a short speech from both Haris Ibrahim and Marina Lee Abdullah, wife of RPK. There was heavy Police presence, as well as off duty prisons officials, but the evening genrally got on without any problems.
On Thursday, 8th of May, another vigil was held in the Dataran Merdeka, or Independence Square. There was heavy Police presence as expected, coupled with the Federal Reserve Unit, normally tasked with crowd and riot controls. There was also heavy machinery parked around the area, tear gas cannon and all. The evening started without much problem, until 8.15pm, when Lawyer Haris Ibrahim was taken away by Police (Arrested, according to Haris) from the Square. He had been accused of ignoring police warnings, and subsequently removed from the area. Read here for other witness accounts of the night. Confusion arosed at first of Haris was indeed arrested, as not much information was attainable from Police personnel present in the square. It is a practice by Police not to divulge information to anyone after such incidents. In fact, previous accounts had also lead certain parties to lodge kidnapping reports against the police for not disclosing information of the detainees. However, Lawyers Malik Imtiaz, through many telephone calls had coordinated with Lawyer Edmund Bon and Viswa on Haris's whereabout, that they were at the IPD Dang Wangi police station to meet Haris an hour after the incident. Haris was subsequently 'released' and it was eventually clarified that he was never arrested at any one point!
The point here is that the police could have just allowed the gathering seeing that those present was really there to show support for those wrongly held (including those under the ISA detention). A strong show of force by the boys in blue, but was it really necessary?

Raja Petra's morning run around at the courts

Raja Petra Kamarudin, better known as RPK was charged in the Petaling Jaya Sessions court on Tuesday, 6th of May 2008. He was earlier asked to present himself at the Kuala Lumpur court complex, and he arrived at around 8.50am. Seen at the car park was lawyer Haris Ibrahim, and his wife, Marina. Other notable bloggers who was also there to meet him was Zorro.
At 8.50am RPK was yet to be made known of the charges that he was to face.
On entering the court outer perimeter, a throng of reporters and photographers were there to greet him. He entered the court building around 9.05am. Surrounded by supporters as well as Pakatan Rakyat's Members of Parliament, and bloggers as well as supporters, RPK had to wait to 10.30am before he was further told that his charges was to be read out in the PJ sessions court.
He eventually arrived in the PJ Sessions court at around 11.00am and proceeded to the waiting room. It was at around 11.55am when YB Gobind Deo and YB Karpal Singh arrived and acted as hid co counsel. Other lawyers in his initial team are YB Lim Lip Eng, YB William Leong, K.Balaguru. RPK was subsequently charged under the Sedition Act, and was granted bail of RM5,000.00. However, he could not raise bail and Balaguru issued a statement that appealed to his supporters to help him by contributing RM1 each to his bail. (a total of about RM30,000 was raised through a designated CIMB account as well as through paypal).
RPK was brought to the Sungai Buluh Prison for remand due to his inability to post bail.
(As of 4.00pm on 7th May 2008, RPK has yet to post bail, and reliable sources informed that he has declined to meet visitors, including his wife. However, he did receive a pair of glasses that was handed over to prison officers. The Star newspaper also provided the same update)
Video report attached.

Blogger 'King' RPK summoned for questioning by Police

Blogger RPK of Malaysia Today received a morning call on the 2nd of May 2008 by seven police personnel, arriving in two cars and three motorcycles. The officers who were in plain clothes proceeded to remove a computer and a laptop from his home. Speaking to Marina, his wife, we were also told of the Police's intention to question him and his interview was originally planned on the 3rd of May at 11.00am. However, he was later told to present himself on the afternoon at 4.00pm through a phone call received at about 3.00pm. Under advice, he could have declined the time, however RPK chose to meet the police to assist them in their investigation, wanting to get it over with. Arriving at the Bukit Perdana commercial crimes division, he went in around 3.50pm accompanied by YB William Leong of Selayang who is also a lawyer. RPK emerged from his Police interview some two and a half hours later. Welcoming him at the entrance of the police complex was his wife Marina, and some blogger friends, including Rockybru, Nuraina Samad, Zorro, Shanghai Fish, and some supporters too.
YB Wee Choo Keong, MP for Wangsa Maju attempted to meet RPK during the interview as his lawyer but was denied entry by the Police. It was understood that the Police were questioning RPK based on a report on RPK's posting on Altantunya, titled "let's send the murderers of Altantunya to hell". In the course of the interview, the Police even threatened to charge RPK for his refusal to answer any questions, and his refusal to make a statement. Eventually, RPK emerged 'victorious' giving an interview to pressmen at around 6.50pm. Read other eyewitness accounts here, here and here.