Being formed in December 2008 as a quick humanitarian response to the terrorist-led Operation Cast Lead, Viva Palestina Malaysia (or VPM) had its official launching last night, seeing 70 tables full of volunteers, donors, press, guests and of course committee members in the Grand Ballroom of Mandarin Oriental, KL.
And I was fortunate enough, to be one of the people attending the launching. Zillions of thanks to Mr Allan for that opportunity. :)
Like usual, I went around taking pictures (though a lot of them do not come out nice, my camera don't usually give good night pictures) and drafting a blog post in mind.
 |
| The registration counter. |
 |
| The guests, before the arrival of Tun Dr M and other VIPs. |
 |
| The ballroom. |
 |
| Tun Dr M giving his speech, his style. |
"We are not civilised because we still believe in killing people", said the man who was the most powerful man in Malaysia for 22 yrs. While some people in the world are learning how to use different sizes of forks for the appetiser, main course and dessert, believing they are at the height of civilisation of the modern world, the Palestinians are being hit, shot and bombed in their own homes. How bizarre...
"They (the Jews) have learnt nothing from their sufferings, and now they are inflicting it on others", added Tun Dr M. 6 millions Jews killed in the Holocaust, a figure, and an event no one can ever question without being accused anti-semitic. And now, another holocaust is happening, an ethnic being cleansed, slowly but surely by the then victims. Another malapetaka...
After his speech, Tun Dr M officiated the launching by cutting the ribbon and letting a bird free, as a symbol of freedom. The bird however, refused to cooperate and preferred to stay in Dr M's warm hands than flying away. Only at second try did the bird finally flew off. :D
Looking at it from the bright side, birds in Malaysia are not too keen to fly off, they are well fed and well taken care off by the humans, heh...
During his speech too, Dr Mahathir bravely slammed the US and UK for its continuous support for Israel, stating that it allows for the gross human rights violations against the Palestinians.
Wardina Safiyyah was the MC for the night, and she sounded just the same like in TV. I did not know she is the MC when I saw her in the surau earlier.
 |
| No explanation needed. ;p |
During the whole event, I sat with 5 other INTEC students; who are Mr Allan's current students, my junior's junior. Funnily I didn't even ask any of them for their names, only introducing my brother and myself to them. 3 of them will be coming into IMU in August this year (I would have left by then), so we chatted about life in IMU, the interview, living as a medical student and stuff like that.
After the dessert, it was time for Ms Lauren Booth to give her speech, a piece of her experience to be shared with us. I would say she delivered a strong and clear message, on the atrocity and violence of the Zionists. She talked about her trips to Gaza, and how she really wanted to stay there. She was one of the passengers in the two wooden boats that sailed to Gaza in August 2008 under the flag of Free Gaza Movement. From that trip, 9 international human right workers stayed in Gaza when the boats left, bringing 7 Palestinians out, and Lauren Booth is one of the workers who stayed.
Israel then gave out an order to restrict all the workers who stayed from leaving Gaza and so when Lauren was at Rafah crossing, trying to get out into Egypt, the Egyptian told her, "The Israel doesn't want you to live, you're trapped." And she thought she'll never be able to see her children again. I do not know what happened then, and how she got out of Gaza.
Since she's from UK, her accent is not something I'm used to (though I have to admit, and be grateful I became more used to it after a yr of almost everyday Chemistry class with Mr Allan), so there were some bits that I could not fully catch. I find the Malaysian English by Tun Dr M easier for me. :D
Lauren also read out the pledge of Gaza Youth, which went public not so long ago. On this matter, I am not too sure how to comment on it. When I read the pledge, it does not really sound like it is from a population of youth who was born in Gaza, and held captivated since in the siege. It sounded more of influenced, influencing, sick of everything and perhaps, westernised group of people. There were even dirty swearings in the pledge, which brought my doubt towards the genuineness of the pledge even higher. You can read about the pledge here. I hate the fact that there are so many fraud news nowadays that it's getting harder to choose what to trust, and which to not.
When asked if the attention on Gaza Strip displayed by the Zionist regime is actually a way to divert the attention of the rest of the world from the West Bank, Lauren answered that the Zionist is actually diverting the attention of the world from the whole Zionist Project itself, not only from West Bank, Gaza or even Palestine. The project involves the whole world and slowly, they are infiltrating us, and one day, when we finally realise what is happening, it might be too late.
Now, that's something...
After the speech was....... the time to go home. :)
As everyone left, and it is already 11pm, I went towards the stage to snap some more pictures. Since I've obtained special permission from my mother to come back later than night, I shall use it to the fullest.
 |
| I managed to squeeze in between reporters and cameramen, and excited guests, and get this shot. Why do I even care to do that? I don't know, perhaps just so that I can get this picture posted here? :) |
 |
| The owner of the beautiful and strong voice, Dina. She performed the theme song of VPM that night. |
 |
| Ms Lauren Booth - the guest speaker of the night. At the end of everything, everyone just wanted to say hi to her. |
 |
| I had two pictures with her, but both are far from perfect. In the first, my eyes were closed. And in the 2nd, her eyes were! And after much thinking which one should I put up, I decided on the one my eyes are wide opened, because this is my blog! :D |
I believe, there are a lot of people in Malaysia, and in the world who have their hearts out to the Palestinians but, perhaps not many know some of the crucial things they can do to help them. One of them will be boycotting products of Nestle, Loreal, Coca Cola and Mc Donald since these companies are investing directly towards the mass destruction of Palestine.
Some people came to me and said a Malaysian company bought Mc Donald in Malaysia thus, the profit of McDonald in Malaysia goes only to us, and Msian McD do not have any link and is not doing what the McD in other countries are doing. But really, there will not be any way (if really Msia bought McD, as I am ignorant of that) that Msian McD do not have to pay any amount of money to the HQ, at least in the form of royalty. Read here for more info.
Don't you tell me you can continue doing nothing when the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) torment other human beings every minute in every day, every month of a year, every year, for more than half a century.
- edited from Letter to Israel, by Lauren Booth.
Link: The event in BERNAMA, The Star, in PressTV.
-AkMaR-
http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com
Post a Comment