Congratulations to Anwar Ibrahim of PKR for winning the Permatang Pauh By-Election.

It is official!
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim the PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) de facto leader has won the by-election at Permatang Pauh with a 17,562 total majority votes.
He polled 31,949 votes while his contender Datuk Arif Shah Omar polled 14,297 while Independent candidate Hanafi Hamat polled 74 votes.

source

For those who have no idea who on earth is Mr Ibrahim, I’ll just let you in on this article to familiarize with this personality.

All in all, we see that the people is indeed looking for a change and having a highly capable opposition party member would be damn helpful in keeping things in check.

While I was disappointed by the race discrimination of UITM incident which I mentioned earlier, now it seem that there IS a cause to celebrate Malaysia’s 51st Merdaka Day – I’m looking forward for a better nation.

On a side note, here’s what I read a few days back, some statements from our Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Last time when he was in Umno, he criticised the DAP heavily. Now, he is a tool of the party – he is willing to agree with everything the party stands for regardless of the political implications. All this is because he wants to be prime minister,” he (najib) said, adding that the Pakatan Rakyat coalition was rapuh (brittle).

“They (PKR) are not a threat to Barisan. They don’t even share an ideology so how can they govern the country and bring stability?” he questioned.

source

now this piece of news look so funny. so here we have witnessed a minister who spoke in utter confidence but to face a sudden change when it comes to reality.

I’m not proud of the discrimination that occurs here in Malaysia.

I am a Malaysian. I am called Malaysian according to the law but I am not with full rights of a Malaysian.

But what ticked me off to write this?

Recently, UITM – one of Malaysia’s university, was proposed by a Mentri Besar to allow non-bumiputera (Bumiputera = the people of a particular race – Malays – that has more rights than Malaysians of other ethnicity.) and it was shot down as if the suggestion was an absolute insult that would bring down the whole country and bring misery to the nation within and outside of it.

Prof Ibrahim said the call to have non-bumiputras allowed into the university was against the purpose of setting up the university.

“UiTM was set up to provide the bumiputras a chance to improve themselves by attaining tertiary education,” he told a press conference at the university here yesterday.

Source

Right, discrimination when it comes to intake. Aren’t we all not Malaysians? Chinese schools and Tamil schools have willingly accepted Malays without questioning. All are treated as friends. So what is so special about UiTM that it is only exclusive for Malays? Aren’t we all Malaysians? If the institution was good, why is it that non-bumiputeras are NOT allowed to be part of it?

(more…)

And this is why I do not cover political events, or any events that may lead to me losing a limb or something.

Photographer attacked after PKR ceramah
By YENG AI CHUN

BUKIT MERTAJAM: A Guang Ming Daily photographer was allegedly assaulted by a group of people on Sunday night as she was leaving Seberang Jaya Expo after covering the ceramah by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Loh Hoay Hoon, 25, who lodged a police report at 2am yesterday, said the PKR supporters had tailed her to the carpark after the public forum around midnight and surrounded her.

Full story : Source : The Star Online – Photographer attacked after PKR ceramah

I for one am not inclined to be Street Photographer simply due to the unpleasant occurrence such as the above, where at anytime someone could be coming at you. Furthermore you’re not just fearing for your life, you’re fearing that your expensive gears will be damaged or lost. Seriously, the camera isn’t cheap and Malaysian doesn’t offer insurance that covers the welfare of our equipment.

Would Street Photography ever be popular in Malaysia when people are so sensitive towards their image being taken?

Just to share, I was assaulted once and it was more than a decade ago when I was less than 15 (more than a decade ago) and had only a film compact camera. What did I do? All I did was innocently going around my hometown, taking pictures of various buildings for my school project.

It so happened that one of the shops that I was photographing had some guys sitting there. after I took the photo, one of them came at me ripped the film away and before he left, he kicked me on the groin that left me in agony. 15 year old. Doing project with a film compact camera. I lost my work and I gone back in pain.

So just be careful if you’re planning to do street photography.