We Know What We Want

if we can talk the talk, we can most definitely walk the walk, and walk the walk we did. some 40,000 Malaysians (and even some tourists!!) turned up at the BERSIH rally yesterday to submit to the King a memorandum demanding clean and fair elections.

from frail old men to ardent university students; from demure head-scarved women to activists, people of all ages and races took part in this peaceful demonstration - wearing yellow, walking proud and making a strong collective statement. shouts of ‘Hidup Rakyat’ and ‘Daulat Tuanku’ rang throughout the massive crowd that marched to the Palace that day, sending the message to the government that enough is enough, we know what you do and we refuse to be slapped around anymore. rakyat juga pantang dicabar :)

as we all know, many warnings and threats were used by the government and the police and even our Prime Minister (what happened to wanting to listen to the truth?) in the days leading up to this demonstration. the idea was to make people fear their safety so they wouldn’t turn up for this protest, but 40,000 people were brave and passionate enough to stand up for their countrymen and what they believe in. this is truly the dawn of something great; we’re no longer succumbing to scare tactics, and this is a HUGE step out of the blind fear that Malaysians have been groomed to live in ever since May 13.

it was really, really amazing being part of this march :) i was just awed from start till end - at the sheer size of the crowd, at the camaraderie displayed by all, the successful execution of this demonstration, at everything. i remember very clearly the moment we turned the corner at Pasar Seni and saw the first long line of yellow-clothed people crossing the bridge and marching towards the Palace. we couldn’t help but let out whoops of joy! it was the most inspiring sight ever. there is just so much hope for Malaysians.

we took the route from Pasar Seni towards the Palace, and we were safe the entire time. but unfortunately the crowd coming from the Masjid Jamek LRT station was tear-gassed and shot at with water cannons by the Federal Reserve Unit. incredibly reckless of the police to do so because this rally (despite what the mainstream media will have you believe) was PEACEFUL from start till end.

Pak Lah said a couple of days ago that whenever demonstrations happen, chaos usually ensues and thus the police have to ‘take action’ and then take the ‘blame’, when it is actually the fault of the people for causing the chaos. well, the only violence that occurred yesterday came from the cops - firing tear gas, water cannons and beating several protestants including reporters - and that was without warning or provocation. sigh see lah how can you say the rakyat wrongfully blames the police now. you cant help but get angry listening to news like this. but thankfully, other routes and the assembly point in front of the Palace - where the police just stood by the side and watched over the crowd and DID NOT INTERFERE - was violence-free. okay, good. we were actually very pleasantly surprised :)

but shame on the mainstream media. shame. shame. printing distorted facts and half-truths and cooperating in lying to the public. coal in your stockings for Christmas this year.

eventually all 40,000 people from the 4 different routes converged at the gates of the Palace at Jalan Istana to await the handing-over of the memorandum to the Agong by the rally representatives. while waiting, we all got to feast on the sight of FORTY THOUSAND PEOPLE (sorry ah must keep saying because i damn cannot tahan some quarters say 4000 people only please lah dont make me laugh) gathered together for a common purpose. it was really cool. you look around and you see all these CIVILIANS! your neighbours, people you pass on the streets daily, the guy who sells you your morning newspaper, the uncle from the kopitiam, your bus driver, your former schoolmates… all clapping each other on the back and smiling and congratulating each other for being there that day. sigh. so nice. i swear to you it was the most patriotic situation i have ever been in. there was just no segregation at all in the crowd; if only we were all like this every day.

my favourite parts of the rally :

- i stepped on this guy’s slipper and he almost fell. i was extremely apologetic and kept saying sorry to him over and over, but he turned around, smiled at me and said, “it’s okay, girl, it’s okay. we are on the same side.”

- this man brought his very young son (about maybe 6-8 years old) along with him to the rally. the kid was sitting on his dad’s shoulders and shouting Daulat Tuanku (long live the King)!

- throughout our march to the Palace, the cars that passed by would wind down their window, honk like crazy and roar encouragement at us while giving us the thumbs up. one guy yelled, “you are my heroes!” so inspiring :)

- the Unit Amal volunteers from PAS who directed the crowd and traffic were extremely nice and warm that day. as people walked past, they smiled at us and shook our hands and thanked us for being there. so this is a big THANK YOU back, Misters Unit Amal, for being such amazing and selfless people! Malaysia needs you.

- i saw these blond, Caucasian backpacker tourists asking route advice from the Unit Amal people! they weren’t wearing yellow, BUT they were wearing yellow ribbons on their shirts :) :) :) thank you tourists, for caring for our country.

- we walked past Pos Malaysia and there were all these staff gathered outside on the balcony. they cheered us on. we cheered back. they cheered even louder! aiyah why you all never take leave!

- texts from my friends and family and Martian saying how proud they were of me :) thank you guys. wish you all had been there to share the experience with me.

- when the memorandum was accepted by the Agong’s secretary, the crowd cheered and started dispersing. then the Muslims were chanting prayers in unison. it was such a comforting sight to behold.

pictures! :

#1 : walking from Pasar Seni in the rain

#2 : the bend before hitting Jalan Istana

#3 : cops stationed near Masjid Negara

#4 : the very patient and peaceful crowd at Jalan Istana

#5 : my ONLY yellow t-shirt - a Jaga Jazzist shirt from their last concert in Singapore. ‘what we must’. apt, eh? :)

#6 : me and Daniel and Jason, who both took very good care of me :P such great company.

#7 : rakyat being rakyat :)

#9 : BERSIH shirts and headbands

#10 : sigh this is the road i take to Bangsar all the time. this road will never look the same to me again.

#11 : YB Lim Kit Siang <3!

#12 : these ladies look like they wouldn’t hurt a fly. yet they were there beside us roaring with so much zest.

#13 : crowd

#14 : this tiny section where i was probably already held more than 4,000 people. what is our Inspector General of Police talking about when he said only 4,000 people attended the entire rally?

#15 : i asked these guys for a picture, and the bald guy said, “of course you may. we won today.”

this rally was more than just a demand for fair elections, it was more than just a lobby for indelible ink and abolition of postal voting. it was about the people’s dissatisfaction and their awareness. it was about democracy, it was about justice. it was a call for complete reform. and i hope this call is heeded. it NEEDS to be heeded.

that day, we were all living breathing proof that Malaysians are NOT ignorant, lazy or scared to make a difference. just look at us! we are so aware of what is going on despite them trying so hard to conceal the truth from us, and we dragged our butts out our of comfortable, SAFE homes and out into the highways and pouring rain to make our voices heard. see :) we’re not so bad after all. there is hope.

accounts from other bloggers :
Bersih.org’s blog
Jeff Ooi
Haris Ibrahim
Daniel Bong

108 comments November 12th, 2007

Hamsapness and Halloween

i hope everyone had a good Halloween! i spent mine doing absolutely nothing related to pumpkins or black cats - in other words, giving a talk to high school students on the pursuit of an American college education in the morning, and then studying for my own pursuit of said American college education later on in the evening. no costume parties or dressing up for dinner this year unlike the last; just a lot of coffee and agitation and trigonometry. the only remotely celebratory thing i did was buy myself a cone of strawberry cheesecake ice cream, but even that was eaten in much haste because i felt guilty for spending 10 minutes not studying =(

damn stress lah i really hate trigonometry.

nevertheless, i had a little bit of pseudo-Halloweenity sometime last week during the HAMSAP party @ Palate Palette. the theme was Naughty or Nice But Nothing In Between. haha! i wanted to go as a Barbie doll, but blonde wigs are just so ridiculously expensive. so i went as an angel. ya i know, ho hum. i’m using up all my angel wing credits, aren’t i!

#1 The Syaitan unmasked!!

#2 fellow heavenly one Amelia

#3 i really, really like that carousel horse

#4 not what it looks like.. haha i swear! nazrul, swear too!!

#5 sweaty farah and sweaty me. when i saw her, i asked, “Farah what are you dressed as??” and she said, “an actress after rehearsal!” hahahaha damn funny

#6 badboy rocker, syaitan, angel

#7 i believe that with this photo, i have taken selftimering to a whole new level :P precariously balancing the camera on a curved basin is so not easy. faster say this photo is nice =(

#8 with paul and fiona and the lovely Palate Palette wall !

#9 is that vest not the coolest thing ever

#10 yum yum, corset and stockings! and pleated skirt too!

#11 Calvin and his evil shirt!

#12 Paul showing off his totally unreal abdominal strength

#13 Nazrul, behave!

#14 our nice Fifoto photo! my halo has been camouflaged wtf

#15 the other photos

#16 a gorgeous old house down the road from Palate Palette. i just had to take pictures

#17 the squat :P

#18 the descent

i’ve actually got another chance at Halloweening this Saturday, what with another costume party up and all, but i’m just fresh out of things to wear. no same costume should be worn twice, and i already broke that rule with the angel outfit. sigh, looks like some employment of creativity is in order. but i still really want to go as a Barbie doll =(

oh and hello dad. stop reading my blog!!! there’s an unspoken rule that fathers shalt not trespass upon the writings and ramblings of their teenage daughters. seriously ah, dont make me post up all your embarrassing photos of your bellbottomed, fluffy-haired days -___-

here’s a photo of my mother from her teenage days that i found in my dad’s wallet the other day :

=)

52 comments November 1st, 2007

Pink Icing and Turning 19

so this was how i spent my 19th birthday - having a pink party :P the idea was to have it in conjunction with breast cancer awareness month, and i even went to get a bag of those pink ribbons, but the notion was just lost in all the excitement. hahaha *smacks self*

i had it at Palate Palette, where a good number of birthday celebrations were being held that night. i didnt know this until i checked my facebook and blog comments today, and there were people saying they were celebrating birthdays there that day as well. bah so wasted, i didnt get to wish them =( it’s not everyday you come across someone who has the same birthday as you and chose to celebrate it at the same place! anyways, it’s no surprise why we all chose Palate Palette - the place is amazing, the food and drinks (watermelontini!!!) are great, and the people behind it are really really awesome. i would totally recommend this place for a party. perhaps will blog about Palate Palette soon and you guys can see why i like it so much :)

i nicely asked everyone to wear pink for this party (hahaha okay lah in some cases forced :P), and to my delight, everybody damn layan okay. they all REALLY came in pink!!!! except one or two lah, but nevermind, i forgive cos they brought me nice presents hehe. i’m so proud of my guy friends who didnt have a pink shirt but went out and bought one just for my bday. you all are so the coolest. dont forget to wear your new pink shirt regularly!! spread the love for pink and all :D

pictures!

#1 hahaha look at Nazrul’s pink baju melayu hahaha

#2 Malaysian RBJer gathering :D Sushi on the left who has the most handsome boss in the world (quick, quick! guess which company he works for!) and Kiffer on the right who didnt wear pink. hor!

#3 Chew and me and a beer and the mojito he bought me. hehehe Chew’s nickname is Fei Mao and he is the cutest and nicest fei mao in the world!

#4 Hariz!!! he used to have this nice curly Moffats hair going on. now no more.

#5 Sofia who is a total babe

#6 Raihan made me cookies for my birthday! they’ve all been devoured by now. see lah babe whoever took this photo damn clever to cut off your bag from the picture. HAHAHA yessssss.

#7 my birthday cupcakes!! Bisou is THE place now to get cupcakes. anyway you gotta see what happened to the cupcakes in later photos :P

#8 Skyler and Su Ann, aka Timothy Tiah’s latest bitches. =( always kena bully by him wan. but then he bought me a really cute pink bag for my birthday, so i forgive him!!

#9 antisocial Tim Tam and my stockinged foot. i think the only person he agreed to talk to the whole night was Martian -______-

#10 me and the very gorgeous Kim! she took my Flaming Lambo virginity that night O___O

#11 the very cute Kimberly eating cupcake (hor!! i tell your trainer!!) and ST who seems to get taller and taller everytime i see him

#12 me with Bernard and Suet Ling who are both staying wayyyyyy too far away from civilization. haih all you Notts people damn poor thing wan!

#13 some of the ex schoolmates! Alvin who looks damn stoned all the time, Vivien who works part time in a jewelry shop and who also believed Martian and i when we went to her shop and told her we were there to buy wedding rings hahaha :P, Carmen who really looks like Devon Aoki in this picture, me with THE REALLY NICE ROSES that the boys surprised me with!!!, Ju Koon who is forever so cute looking, Ee Yang who still remembers what flowers i like, Ian whom i’ve known since we were like 8 years old or something, Emily who is Ian’s very hot gf

#14 this is Kelvin! poor thing was sick that night and was so grumpy, awww. he got me an awesome gift, which shall be revealed in a later post! kelvin you dont be so angsty okay. MWAH

#15 hahahahahhaa this is eventually what happened to the cupcakes hahahaha

#16 … LOL! what lah you guys, all that Dirty Scrabble is taking over your head!!

#17 me with who George dubs the GIS kids. haha. Alvin, to whom i blurted out “HIRO NAKAMURA!” when i first met him, Georgie Porgie!!!!, and Seng Yip aka Fallout Boy :P joke, people, joke

#18 me looking very apprehensive with the Flaming Lamborghini that Kim bought me. haha DIE LAH i was damn scared. i am such a failure when it comes to alcohol. as you will see from my terbabas face in all the following pictures :P

#19 THIS WAS THE COOLEST PART OF THE ENTIRE NIGHT. Sieutheng and the others surprised me with this damn awesome cake at about midnight, and i was just jumping up and down and screaming when i saw it. HAHAHAHA. i mean, who wouldnt!! just look at it!! it’s bloody amazing! there’s armpit hair, there’s a smile on his face, and there’s cum all over him! and there’s even a dildo in his ass. hahaha wtf!

#20 it looks even more S&M with all the candles. hands down the best birthday cake EVER. thank you guyssssss :D mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah

#21 after i blew the cake, i had to blow the cake again. ahem. O_O but not before i got pushed into the cake by Jovann. ST has a really cool pic here. yah it was a total bukkake moment.

#22 me and my famileh before i scurried off to wash all that cake off my face

#23 Chris and Ivan giving me birthday kisses! whee!

#24 Sze Yin who is so pretty, me and my muka terbabas, Jovann whose hair is always nicer than mine! why like this!

#25 Ginny actually came to my birthday wearing the exact same dress as me. HAHAHA WTF. ginny how dare you!!!

#26 daddy giving me a kiss

#27 and my mommy! why lah everybody want to kiss me on my bday!

#28 ivan, my BFF! and possibly the only person in the world who will let me climb on the roof of his car and drive me around :P

#29 the awesome people who surprised me with the naughty cake :D kok ket, justin, sieutheng, me, christine, jin hang, freddy. aira and chaoying are not in this picture! =(

#30 really ah justin, really ah.

#31 me and emily chai! i love her stockings!!

#32 the former classmates :) freddy why must you close your eyes!

#33 the bloggersssss :D

#34 this is Sandra Oh’s twin, Emily. she has very nice boobage, hence this photo :P and then it sparked off a few more tit photos..

#35 tit photo with Waifon! I LOSE STRAIGHTAWAY =( nobody can outdo the awesomeness of her cleavage!

#36 tit photo with Ginny! i forgive her for wearing the same dress as me on MY birthday, because she gave me a bloody fantastic bday gift :D will blog about it soon

#37 smooches for Waifon, who got me delicious bday gifts, and who also has one of the best reads for a blog :P it’s so bitchy it makes your toes curl! go read lah you’ll see what i mean :D

#38 heehee this couple needs to get a room. Albert got me a really awesome card which is just so HIM

#39 a funny photo of Asyraf. hahahhaa the floor beneath him was wet, you see!

#40 God, save me from these two

#41 i cannot believe i didnt take a picture with my boyfriend the entire night. how could i be so stupid??? he looked so incredibly yummy in his pink polo and white jeans. sigh so wasted! =( baby i’m so sorry! =( this is us later at night after the party was over. i asked him what he’s doing in the picture and he said he’s trying to be an angel. what the … -____-

okay lah i’m damn sad now that i dont have a photo of Martian and i at my bday party =( but i’m glad that at least i have the above picture, and pictures from dinner as well. oh wait! found one of him that i took before we left for dinner :)

this is my boyfriend whom i love and am extremely proud of =) i soooooo cannot wait to blog about what he got me for my birthday

———-

and that, kawan kawan sekalian, was my very awesome birthday night :D

my birthdays from now on will be spent in America when i go there to study next year. 4 birthdays with none of my friends, family and boyfriend sounds extremely scary to me, and i am so not looking forward to that. so, it was really, really good to have everyone there with me on my birthday that night :) the loved ones who couldnt be there, were there in a sense - they mailed me cards, emailed/texted me wishes, left me mssgs on my blog, called me throughout the day to send their love; and all these gestures just made me feel so happy. ah, what are geographical boundaries when it comes to love!!

to everyone who was a part of my birthday, thank you so much. you guys made my 19th birthday so very very special. i love you all :)

69 comments October 9th, 2007

Chasing Teddy Bears

you know what i love? parties with costumes, that’s what i love! so when Jaw from Horomundi said that they were planning to throw a PAJAMA PARTY in conjunction with the Tempus weekend at Singapore, i couldnt believe my ears :D i was damn excited ok, especially when i saw the raunchy invite card yum yum!

so after much anticipation, the Pajama Party was held last night at St James Power Station, Singapore. i met up with Kelvin first at Swissotel, where most of the party guests congregated before leaving for the venue together. hahaha what a sight we all were, milling around in our long johns and little nighties in the lobby of Swissotel.

pictures from the night :

#1 at Swissotel, with the shuttle that shuttled us there. it arrived at 8pm, but Kelvin told me 7pm. WTF. why are all my friends like this.

#2 glam girl, action girl, navy girl and aviator girl models for the respective watch brands

#3 there was a Dominatrix at the club entrance to spank all the boys … hahaha!

#4 kelvin and i! i dont know why we chose to stand in front of the Richard Mille brand. oh i know, it’s because that’s where my eye candy was standing! hahaha! btw my eye candy took this picture.

#5 a few of the female models! oh the hotness! the one on the left in the marine outfit is my favourite

#6 with janice and her friend. janice’s nightie has a Hello Kitty patch on it, and she kept trying to cover it with her hair. whatever for?! Hello Kitty forever.

#7 the greek-dressed ladies were there solely to help us with the cheese platter. this particular girl in the picture was so cute; she anxiously asked me if i knew what the types of cheeses were, cos apparently someone asked her and she didnt know how to answer. aiyo so cute! our workforce needs to be more like her.

#8 vodka infused jelly with fruit. and one of those sticks the doctors use on your tongue

#9 dessert platter. the chocolate on the spoon is really some damn good stuff!! and i forgot to take pictures of the other hor d’ouevres but they were fantastic as well. the best ones were the peking duck wraps (so YUM!) and the scallops on toothpicks. siigh i wish all party food were that good. bruschetta is getting so boring

#10 ZOMG they brought in this albino python arghghghghghghhgg that is me freaking out

#11 after a few glasses of wine, i finally worked up the courage to do it. SIGH THIS IS MY MOMENT OF PRIDE!!! you cant tell from the picture but i was trembling like mad

#12 kelvin said, “TRY TO SMILE!!!!” and this is the product

#13 she did it with no qualms. summore can remember to display the Girard Perregaux watch she was modelling. hot, brave and professional - now you see why she is my favourite!!

#14 the orange area where all the older folks hung out

#15 Horomundi cushions at the lounge!

#16 with Victoria and her partner in crime. she asked me where i bought my slippers and i said, Vivo City! but she looked at me blankly. i’m like, which Singaporean doesnt know where Vivo City is?

#17 Li Ling and Cindy. we had the cutest slippers of the night :D

#18 my eye candy is the one in red. heehee. and why do angmohs always have to be so tall

#19 they were giving out these oriental-type pajamas at the entrance for those who weren’t dressed in pj’s. they were so nice that even the ones who came dressed took them anyway :P

#20 the boys in their pajamas. why is blue the official male pajama colour?

#21 haha damn cool lah these people - they brought face towels and toothbrushes and stuff! and teddy bears!!!! chua said i dont want to know what’s stuffed inside the teddy. hahaha.

#22 these girls came with matching Eeyore cushions. the two on the right are dressed exactly the same - gasp! party faux pas!

#23 me and my mushroom slippers that i absolutely love!!

#24 this guy was wearing the most expensive looking pajamas of the event. check out that robe!

#25 hahahhahaa and this one brought his entire toiletries bag!!!!!!!! DAMN FUNNY hahahhaa he was toting it around the whole night

#26 the models and their watches

#27 pinkpau goes home. the security guards at the apartment saw me in my pajamas and thought i was locked out -___-

i left wayyyyy too early last night. maklumlah i have girlfriend duties! but i was dressed for the occassion hehehe if you know what i mean. of course i do wish i coulda partied more, cos there were some really interesting people there last night. ah these watch people really know how to throw a party :) mucho props to Horomundi for a great night, and mucho thanks to Kelvin for taking me!!! i repaid him by running off with his silk pajamas :D

PS: i forgot to mention something important, oh how could i!! it’s such a tidbit - Jackie Chan was there last night! at first we didnt believe it - i mean wtf is jackie chan doing here at a pajama party - but kelvin and i spotted him briefly as he was rushing out. later on, some of the guys were saying how they walked towards the sofas without knowing jackie chan was there, and they were immediately stopped by his entourage who yelled “no pictures, no pictures!”.

one of the guys said, “i mean, he was just sitting there all alone! rubbing a pillow! like this! *proceeds to make rubbing gestures* it was so sad! jackie chan has got to be the most lonely movie star on the planet.”

HAHAHAHA

45 comments September 11th, 2007

Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape

there is no doubt about it - Gwen Stefani kicked ass last night at Stadium Putra. i exaggerate not when i say it is possibly the best concert i’ve ever been to in KL.

everything was great from start till finish. parking was easy peasy, and surprisingly we didnt have to queue for entrance. we’d originally planned to go a little bit later so we didnt have to sit through all the boring opening acts we had no interest in seeing anyway, but thankfully we didnt do that! BECAUSE! there were NO boring opening acts! no sponsor gimmicks! :O and best of all, there was no wait. it was so unbelievable but true - after a cute opening gambit of a cops-&-robbers chase, Gwen came onstage immediately at 9pm.

dressed in a b&w prison-striped suit and black leggings, she opened with none other than The Sweet Escape, which of course drove everyone wild. everyone leapt out of their overpriced arranged-seating seats and sang along, cameras a-flashing and hands a-flailing. hehe i couldnt contain my excitement either! then she did Rich Girl, after which she reappeared on stage clad in a cute apron outfit - complete with chef-hat - her first wardrobe change of many to come.

38 comments August 22nd, 2007