Posted in Activities, Anwar, International on Sep 23rd, 2007 No Comments »
On 20 Sept I accompanied Anwar to visit Jose de Venecia Jr., the Speaker of the House of Representatives. We arrived at his residence at about 08:30hr morning.
De Venecia was Anwar’s old friend. He was an ally of President Arroyo until recently. His son, Joey de Venecia III testified on Tuesday 18 Sept in the [...]
Posted in Activities, Anwar, International on Sep 23rd, 2007 No Comments »
This was the first time Anwar visited the Philippines since his release in 2004. His attendance to the WFDA Conference coincided with several important dates related to democratic struggle in the region.
The conference reminded Filipinos the long years of dictatorship. On 21 Sept 1972 Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law: the parliament is suspended, opposition politicians [...]
Posted in Activities, International on Sep 21st, 2007 No Comments »
I flew into Manila on 18 Sept to attend an international conference known as World Forum on Democratization in Asia. As the title suggests, it was a meeting of pro-democracy activitists from NGOs and political parties around the world.
Other Malaysians participated in the conference were Yap Swee Seng from Suaram, Irene Fernandez from Tenaganita, Cynthia [...]
Posted in Human Rights, International on Sep 4th, 2007 2 Comments »
I has been informed this morning (4 Sept), Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Sec Gen Chee Soon Juan was sent to prison, starting his 3 weeks sentence. He was convicted on the charge of attempting to leave the country.
Chee is my good friend. He is an extremely committed democratic fighter who is facing a much more [...]
Posted in International, Politics, Viewpoint on Aug 7th, 2007 7 Comments »
Smart partners: M&M
Malaysia is hosting Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) for the eighth times since Dr Mahathir started the so-called “Smart Partnership” discussion.From 1995 to 2004, under the helm of Mahathir, LID had been promoting the philosophy of “smart partnership”.
We see many heads of state and bureaucrats attending LID year in year out. Mahathir must be [...]
Posted in Environment, International, Politics, Viewpoint on Aug 6th, 2007 4 Comments »
Painted in water soluble paint, Shadow Painting Events represent human and animals shadows which were seared onto the ground
- all that was left after the 1945 atomic bombings.
Today is Hiroshima Day. It is a commemoration of the first atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
In my university days in Australia, Hiroshima Day was [...]
Posted in Activities, International on Mar 16th, 2007 1 Comment »
Shih Ming Te (施明德) and his wife Chen Chia-Tzun (陈嘉å›) paid Dr Wan Azizah a visit this morning 15 March. They arrived at Anwar’s PJ Office at about 11:20hr. They were warmly welcomed by more than 30 party leaders and members. Many came to admire the great man who had endured 25 years of imprisonment. [...]
Posted in International, Viewpoint on Feb 1st, 2007 No Comments »
A Southeast Asia based regional alliance of independent journalists’ and press-related organizations issued a statement against the use of OSA today (1 Feb).
The regional organisation, which mandate is to promote and protect press freedom, is known as Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). In the statement, SEAPA expressed its concern “that the Malaysian government is subjecting [...]
Posted in International, Politics, Viewpoint on Dec 15th, 2006 1 Comment »
I heard about George Soros’ visit a few weeks back. As far back last year, Mahathir has written to Soros requesting a meeting. Nobody really knew what his motive was then. It is interesting that Mahathir is meeting up with Soros in Kuala Lumpur.
Soros had been demonized by Mahathir for causing Southeast Asian financial crisis [...]
Posted in Culture, International, Viewpoint on Dec 12th, 2006 2 Comments »
During my university days, on my bedroom wall used to hang this poster “Chile: Hasta Cuando?†It was a documentary by Australian filmmaker David Bradbury. Being a young student, I was fascinated by revolutionary struggles in Latin America. David Bradbury’s films including Nicaragua: No Pasaran, South of the Border, etc. were my introductory education material [...]