R.I.P – SC Chan aka Tony Thien

Another day, another sad news of the loss of a comrade… found out on Malaysiakini that SC CHan had passed.

delCapo only really met him for one day (even though we exchanged emails and read each other’s writings)….. when he took care of us (Zorro, Haris and SKY) the first day we arrived in Kuching… leading up to the Batang Ai by elections nomination day.

Thanks to him we made new friends that day… and put faces to names of our fellow blogtivists from Sarawak.

Nice chap…. I always address him as Mr Chan.

May your soul Write In Peace, Mr Chan…. Tony Thien will be missed by the readers.

Joining us for lunch the first instant we reached kuching

hosting a dinner for us to meet some of the prominent Sarawak Bloggers

Ancient Mariner – RIP

In the midst of news and activities around Teo Beng Hock over the weekend, we also lost another comrade.

delCapo last saw Captain Yusof aka The Ancient Mariner at the Chinese Assembly Hall when he joined the DAP panel to share with us some of the details behind the multi-billion rinngit PKFZ scandal.

Always been friendly and good for a nice chat over some drinks… one of the respected elders for us the young punks.

You will be missed, captain… may your soul Blog in Peace.

Hail Malik Imtiaz !!!

delCapo is honoured to call Malik Imtiaz a friend, a fellow blogger… he is someone whom I admire alot as a writer, a kick ass lawyer… above all, a very decent human being….

disQuiet at work

the triumpant RPK legal team

Even in times of great achievement and triump, like when he led the team who won RPK’s freedom from ISA, he has always been humble & philosophical… never for a second gloated or even publicly given himself enough credit….

Now he is a receipent of an international the human rights award -  “2009 Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award” for his body of work for human rights in the past 10 years (check out his article “The truth about Malaysia”).. his reaction (on The Malaysian Insider)?

Imtiaz said he was “happy” and honoured by the award which seemed to justify his efforts in pushing the human rights campaign here over the last 10 years.

“It’s good because it gives the opportunity to focus on what is happening here and the restrictive attitudes faced, including freedom of expression which undermines democracy,” he said.

But he noted the award was a double-edged sword, which drew undesirable attention to Malaysia.

“At the same time, it’s sad. There were other people from Egypt, Zimbabwe, a Filipino who were nominated for their struggle to change the system.

“What does this say about our country? The world now sees us on par with Zimbabwe and Egypt,” Imtiaz highlighted, adding that it was “not a great honour” for Malaysia to be associated with the democratically resistant countries like Zimbabwe and Egypt.

In this cynical world,  qualifications, recognitions, status can often be bought…. but CLASS is priceless.

Malik Imtiaz.. u are a class above….. congratulations, my friend….

*BIG SALUTE*

For some laughs…

Was looking for some new “pick me up” reading….

This one cracked me up – Fake Najib.

• whoever u are… thanks man!

This one cracked me up even more… Birdy who thinks it can bark, trying to bite Malaysiakini

• Not the article itself…. typical of Pascual’s writings anyway (u judge for yourselves)
• BUT, this disclaimer on the posting itself:
• “Words of warning though, those Malaysians with a lower than average IQ need not read and comment on this posting by Barkingmagpie content, because lower than average morons have no capability to discern what is the truth and wrong:”
• Scared of comments ka?? scared dun write lah!… hahahahahaha!!
  

Whenever i need to kill off some blues, & not go on the booze…. i always goto Kata Tak Nak…. he has never failed me… thx again, Cikgu!

N25 Bkt Selambau – BR’s latest ground report

DO NOT let MIC/BN take advantage of a division & sneak in a win!!!

As long as we are DIVIDED, BN is SUCCESSFUL !!

STAY UNITED!!! KEEP MIC/BN OUT!!!!!

AnilNetto has also been working on the ground

Don’t fall into Samy Vellu’s hypocritical acts like this visit to Hindraf national coordinator RS Thanenthiran

HERE IS Barisan Rakyat’s very own Viveg rports back from Bukit Selamabau: Feedback on the ground situation in Bukit Selambau.

Indian Community Support:

• · The majority of Indian community’s support seem to be behind PKR
• · Even though the Makkal Sakthi initially called for boycott, some of the local supporters has gone to ground asking the people to vote for Pakatan.
• · The prospect of having an Exco from the area is the carrot that is being.
• · MIC will surely claim otherwise and Samy Vellu’s visited Thanendran in the hospital and planned to use the visit to potray Hindraf as supporting MIC. Good thing Hindraf corrdinator Kannan has come out to say Samy Vellu’s claim is not true.
• · No matter how dissatisfied the Indian voters will be with Pakatan, there is minimal chance of them supporting BN.
• · It’s beyond my comprehension why they still say that Hindraf will work in support of Pakatan in Bukit Gantang but will remain passive in Bukit Selambau. It doesn’t matter really because the local unit seem to have seen reason.

The issue of Kalaivanar leaving PKR:

• · The impact of Kalaivanar leaving is not as big as BN expected. It remains a cheap publicity act to highlight in BN ceramah.
• · All the division members who followed hoim out are not voters in Bukit Selambau.
• · The Indian community has seen him for what he is.
• · They know that Kalaivanar stood in the Gurun state seat and lost in the 12th GE. As such they do not buy his claim of not being appreciated seriously.
• · The scandals surrounding him from his stay in Seremban days have been circulated in Bukit Selambau, leaving doubts on his credibility.

Infighting within PKR:

· I’m a little worried about this.

· Manikumar being new, is being guided by a group of state PKR leaders. And this group is not including the local divisional leaders in some decision making process.

· According to someone from the SP PKR division, even the Malay members of the division are grumbling of not being included in the campaign planning and implementation.

· The locals feel that they know the ground better and should be included in the planning while Manikumar’s campaign team is not absorbing all team players.

· I fear this is the weakest link now.

· If Pakatan is to lose Bukit Selambau, it will be their PKR’s infighting that causes the downfall.

· PKR better handle the dissatisfaction before it causes some damage

RPK sets Barisan Rakyat’s support to the 7 April By-elections

Attention Barisan Rakyat Bloggers and Special Bunch teams… the time has come again to mobilise…. get off your asses =]

Dear Comrades,

Since RPK’s self imposed exile from Selangor (read about it here, if you have just returned from outer space)… we will probably miss the great man at our regular Sunday PJ Vigils and Anak Bangsa Malaysia meetings for awhile.

The good news is that the 3 by-elections (Bukit Selambau in Kedah, Bukit Gantang in Perak, Batang AI in Sarawak) are outside Selangor =]

Haris met with RPK earlier tonight to plot  frameworks and strategies for the Barisan Rakyat bloggers and ground teams to cover the by-elections.

From RPK & Co’s recent  road trips to Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selembau areas, and visits to Kuching/Batang Ai by other BR comrades.. RPK’s  thoughts:

1. If possible, dedicated sections on the blogs  for each by elections, for ease of updating & reading.
2. Batang Ai should be taken care of by our newly aquainted comrades  – the Sarawak Bloggers (check out Dayak Nation, DayakNation.tv, The Borken Shield, Letters from Batang Ai) over in Sarawak & their friends on the ground (some BR guys are also going over to help out)…. supported online by all our blogs to bring them coverage & traffic…. start picking up & linking to their postings.
3. Bukit Gantang is a PAS seat & with Nizar as candidate, looks like a likely Pakatan Rakyat/PAS win. HOWEVER,  judging from the current & recent events surrounding the Perak constitutional crisis, and pre-elections mood on the ground…  an intense & ugly battle is anticipated…… Plenty of work  to be done… no complacency allowed. BR efforts will be concentrated here, based out of Taiping (with love, no less)
4. Bukit Selembau looks to be messy…. with multiple independent candidates thrown in to complicate matters. BR team shall support and cover it based out of Taiping as well. We shall be working with PAS and Makkal Sakthi comrades.
   

The captain has spoken …. lets get organised….

May the FORCE be with all of us & all in Batang Ai, Bukit Gantang & Bukit Selembau.

Lets continue to return Malaysia back to the Rakyat!! PEOPLE POWER!!!

220309 Kuching – AI to Batang Ai **UPDATED**

*Update*

The wait is over – AI picks Jawah for Batang AI.

Bawin will be Director of Election Operations for the campaign.

Hope Bawin’s team will throw their support behind the “Return Warrior” Jawah…. to bring Batang Ai N29 back to the people, to begin the new history of Sarawak politics.

PEOPLE POWER!!! Sarawak for Rakyat Sarawak!!

BR team with Jawah in his long house

________________________

Breakfast meeting with the Dayak Bloggers downstairs in our hotel earlier… while anticipating the arrival of Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim (AI) to head a PKR’s press conference for Bantang Ai N29 by elections.

Just after 10 am, The peaceful hotel lobby was soon filled with reporters, local PKR reps… including one of the PKR hopeful candidate for Batang Ai – Jawah Gerang (former 5-term MP for Lubok Antu) and his entourage.

AI arrived at just after 11am… smiles & handshakes with as many as he could… nod of acknowledgment to the BR bloggers relaxing at one corner… before going upstairs for a pre-press conference closed door meeting.

The other hopeful PKR candidate – Nicholas Bawin was also spotted in our area.

Everyone was looking for clues of which of the 2 will be announced as the one to wrestle Batang Ai seat from BN. Prior to his visit, word was that he make the announcement during a gathering at Jawah’s long house in Rh Lepang, Sayat, Lubok Antu tonight.

Just before midday, the press conference was over & Cobbold of Dayak Nation, who attended the meeting & PC, informed delCapo that AI had decided to make the announcement tomorrow before he leaves….

Anwar & a conv0y of cars left for Lombok Antu soon after…

So will it be another chance for Bawin or the return of Jawah??

The anticipation continues…..

Whatever it is… for the sake of Batang Ai, Sarawak & PKR’s national ambition… we hope Team Tagem & Team Jawah will be united for the fight ahead…

AI in Batang Ai… hope he can make it work!.

BR Bloggers In Support of Batang AI by-election

Nite *Update*

SC Chan (aka Tony Thien) & The Dayak Bloggers hosted a nice dinner for SKY and the 3 of us…. we are eternally grateful for the hospitality, the honest friendship…. a brotherhood bond is borne tonight!

More importantly, we had no holds barred discussions of how local civil societies & bloggers can do for their own communities AND for Malaysia… in true Anak Bangsa Malaysia spirit.

The message is Unity & Focus among the local bloggers, civil societies and activists – PEOPLE POWER!!!

Each person, each group has a role to play & contribute.. it’s time to get to the ground & go for it!!

Batang Ai is NOT “just another by election”, not just N29… The voters of Batang Ai can be the turn of history for the Ibans, the Dayaks, for Sarawak & for Malaysia….

Message to PKR…. Batang AI is part of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim (AI himself) & PKR’s destiny…. AI’s presence for the campaign shall be crucial in showing the people of Btang Ai & Sarawak their sincerity!

It’s NOT about PKR winning the votes & the seat… it’s about PKR winning the hearts of the people… & help them win them back what belong to THEM!!!

As we say goodnite… we pledged to solidify the game plan with a visit to Batang Ai area tomorrow….

delCapo can’t wait…..

Note:

Thanks to all who commented…. apologies for those not published…. they are mostly great suggestions… but honestly, should have been emailed to the working group email…. we shall compile & discuss with the local boys here as part of the game plan =]

Once again… the email is ABMforBatangAi@gmail.com

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original post

Barisan Rakyat Bloggers on the move…. 3 of us reached Kuching today…. On kind invitation of the Sarawak bloggers.

In true Anak Bangsa Malaysia spirit, we were accompanied by local boy “SKY” aka former Bandar Kuching MP YB Sim Kwang Yang, and warmly welcomed by the local Dayak bloggers and working team.

Lunch & drinks are being served as this goes to post. Nicholas Bawin, one of the potential PKR candidate, dropped by briefly to say hello.

Brainstorming starts later this evening.

We are calling our fellow brothers & sisters of blogsphere to email us any suggestions & good ideas how we can be of support to their efforts in Batang Ai.

ABMforBatangAi@gmail.com

After all these years we are still “divided”… time to unite…

Checkout:

• Zorro’s posting here
• Haris’ posting here
• AnilNetto also covering Sarawak stories

more to come…

meanwhile, some pix below

Haris, Nicholas Bawin, Zorro

our hosts

MT: A Sunday Drive Through P59

Below is an article by a comrade on MT , who took an early drive through P59 Bukit Gantang area with our hero RPK.

Elections will be held on 07Apr09…. the actions have started… & will pick up pace, i’m sure, on 28March09, the day before nomination date.

Looks like Bukit Gantang folks have good sense of humour, no?

In addition to the nice field report below…. delCapo would like to add:

• - Besides the Simpang junction where the shops are, Kuala Sapetang (dun N13), represented by PKR’s Tai Sing Ng is a key area  to cover. This area includes the legendary Port Weld (read info here & here) & it has over 40% of non-Malay (32% chinese, 8% indians)… it shall be more of a Gerakan/PPP vs PKR/DAP campaigns… fishing anyone???
• - Agreed that Changkat Jering is a key UMNO vs PAS area, especially after the recent defection of their Adun Osman Jailu.
• Not forgeting Trong area… the current Adun, UMNO’s Datuk Rosli Husin only won by 916 votes during the 08Mar08 elections…. UMNO vs PAS again

delCapo, a proud Anak Bangsa Malaysia…. as well as a fringe member of the Barisan Rakyat bloggers will be there….

See u on 28th March indeed… hope P59 voters will come out in force & show some PEOPLE POWER!!!

Mob’s in form…..

Many of you are familiar with his brilliant work, published on Mob’s Crib

Mob’s really been in form lately… his last 3 creations are instant classics!

Keep kicking ass, brother Mob!!