Coming to an End

Ramadhan was coming to an end. No more Tarawikh. No more Pasar Ramadhan and as usual, the city dwellers left for their kampung. And KL was practically empty. Traffic was going to be a breeze.

But I was sure the Raya break would also turn KL into another atmosphere all together. Where else could you get to visit Dhaka, Jakarta and Yangon within a space of a few minutes? Come to central KL during the holiday period and you would get to see that!

Selamat Hari Raya.

Sunshine Sunday

Woke up to such glorious sunshine, even though it was not such a smooth night, with both Idlan and Irfan coughing all evening. Idlan was still carrying a fever. At least it made waking up for sahur that bit easier.

Now that Astro is back, the boys were looking forward to Animal Mechanical and Imagination Movers at around noon. And as usual, Dad would join in. The fever is still there, but both of them had a hefty breakfast. Idlan was running around a bit earlier, which was good.

So, enjoying the sunshine at home while I can. Rather do that than joining the crowd doing Hari Raya shopping at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The place would be packed, and the weather would be searing! Happy Sunday all!

Urbanscapes 2011

It's Monday. And Urbanscapes was 48 hours ago. My head was still buzzing from the laughter excitement and music from the day. This time I was heavily involved with the KLickr events this time around. It was a long and tiring day. But looking back, I was rather proud of what we done especially the 5 minutes Photo Express. Oh! And before I go on, please look at my collection of photographs from the day here.

I missed last year's event as I was in Lumut giving a lecture. This year, the went was moved from KLPAC to Padang Astaka in PJ. Before I go any further, I can sense there were two groups of people who turned up that day, the first-timer who heard great things or been told of activities happening at Urbanscapes in the previous years, and those who had been to previous events. I belong to the second group - yes, I'm old - and there was a part of me that felt Urbanscapes has lost some of its charm. KLPAC was cosy and should I say, rather exclusive. It was like an escape IN THE MIDDLE of KL.

Tumbleweeds maybe?Even Pikachu was around ....The hotair balloon was unfortunately all hot air. It was a non-event ....Fancy a cup of tea?Batman with lipstick?And the night festivities kicked off after dark ....

You drive into the greenery of Sentul Park and in the middle of nowhere you would find a lake, and a studio, with cosy, breezy surrounding. The organizer might try to convince you otherwise, but the charm was now clearly not there anymore. KLPAC also allowed for both indoors and outdoors activities but I shall keep discussions on a later date. As for this entry, I just want to let the pictures tell the story ......

Time Will Tell

There was a famous saying that only the victor will be remembered as they were the ones writing the history. One day we would look back to 9th July to learn if it was a wise decision to overreact and lock down the capital city, or was it a necessary action. Certainly the rally has disrupted my plans for the weekends. However, to claim that it would be a loss to me would be selfish. The rally that day might shape the future of the country, and for that, I would rather sacrifice the cancelled meeting and wedding reception.

My wife's cousin, who also happened used to be the Dean of the UM Medical School until recently, was planning the akad and reception for her daughter on the very same day - 9th July. The akad would be in the morning, a private ceremony at his house, while the reception would be smack in the middle of town. That was postponed to Sunday, when hopefully, all the excitement of the rally would have died down. On the Sunday as well, there was a planned symposium at one of the hotel in town, during which I was scheduled to give a brief talk. That was put back to later in the month as well.

In its own way, the Bersih rally has affected my plan for the weekend, and I would be keeping a close look at the twittefeed to catch up on the eye-witness account of the event as they took place. Hopefully, I would be able to as plenty of us were expecting a media black-out. And that would include disruption of the Internet service and possibly the cellular network. If that was the case - the Internet being cut - then it would be safe to assume that something ugly might have happened. And nobody would want that. Here is hoping that no blood would be shed in what was hoped to be a peaceful rally at the start.

Bracing myself

It was kind of difficult to ignore the forces around you. And what would be around the corner, a couple of weekends from now may be a turning point for the country. I almost never talk about politics specially on my blog but those who knew me personally probably knew that i have my own take about the local politics.

All I wished for on the day would be a peaceful outcome and the story of the day would be portrayed in a fair perspective as the events would not go down as just another nuisance that happened similar to rallies in the past. I can almost predict what the headline was going to be, and it would be definitely a couple of different versions, one in the local mass media, and another on the international news outlet - BBC, CNN and Aljazeera.

The other major difference between the coking rally and those in the past was the advent of social media. In the last six months, we have seen the power of social media - twitter and Facebook - been demonstrated in weakening oppressive regimes. How information was disseminated. And how reporting of events have changed. Like all informations sources, there would be room for manipulation. But the sheer volume of information and news would help the readers to be in a better position to make judgement of the actual happenings. Social media also offer direct interaction with the source, making clarification more transparent. Censorship would also be difficult, and the only viable solution for that would be a total media blackout - close down the Internet, like what happened to Egypt and Libya. The sheer fact that Malaysia would be mentioned on the same breath with the two country really demonstrated the gravity of the coming event.

I must say that the development leading up to the coming rally had been interesting to say the least, and it was mainly on how the information was disseminated. Here's to a peaceful rally. And here's hoping that Yorais would not take the decision to cut off the Internet on the day .....